Hurting Feelings
by ChristianDragon
Summary: When a peace loving Cyndaquil is forced to leave the safety and comfort of his home, he not only has to survive to stay alive, but also has to keep his emotions from controlling him. But that's harder than it looks when he continues caring for others.
1. Quil

I opened up my eyes, glancing around the area which I slept in. The forest was such a big place, home to many pokemon, yet the area I slept in was my home, my safe area from outside threats. The morning air was quite cool as a soft breeze swept through, sending a slight shiver through my body. It felt quite good. I smiled as I looked up, seeing the faintest hint of sunlight shining in through the thick leaves overlapping each other, preventing the warmth of the sunlight to pass through. Of course, there were some areas elsewhere that had sunspots warming that particular area. And it is that kind of warmth we fire types enjoy immensely.

My name is Quil and I am a Cyndaquil. But I'm a different kind of Cyndaquil, a different kind of pokemon. They say pokemon are use for battling to raise their power, their speed, their defense, and all that kind of stuff. Others are used as house pets and become lazy and spoiled. And then there are pokemon who are used to bully other pokemon who are smaller, weaker, and helpless against them. Well I'm a lot different than them all. I am a pokemon who hates fighting and wanting to be a rotten brat. I'm more of a pokemon of kind manners, politeness, and caring. The only thing I seem to fail at is trying to socialize with others. When it comes to socializing, my mind draws a complete blank on what to say.

I wish I could say I have friends, but what kind of friend never visit each other? I do talk to a bunch of other pokemon and hang out with them from time to time, but it rarely happens. I'm mostly with my family almost all the time.

I glanced over to my left to see a younger Cyndaquil, my brother Flare, sleeping in a strange position. Flare seemed to always have the knack of getting himself into trouble. Every time he went out for a walk, he would end up in multiple fights, always returning home with a number of scars and bruises upon his body. He always got reprimanded afterwards from mom and dad, but he could care less. He always enjoyed fighting. And for that, it always got him in trouble with other pokemon.

I glanced over from him to the nearby tree where a Mareep named Maria laid. Maria was younger than Flare and I. I was only about six years old while Flare was four. Maria was only one. Maria is the spoiled one of our family, being that she was born last. She always gets away with things. She would become hyper at times and cause mischief. Then she would blame it on either Flare or I while she faked a cry. We always got in trouble for it, though Flare didn't show much care. I, on the other hand, was sick of Maria's ability to get away with everything, but I never did anything about it.

My father, a Typhlosion, and my mom, a Flaffy were asleep inside the bottom of the tree. They always looked out for us and didn't set too many rules. One important rule is to return to the area before dusk. Flare disobeyed that rule one time and got chewed out, but like always, he just didn't care, and that worried my parents some. If it was one thing he was proud to admit, it was his pride at getting into fights and winning every single one of them. I knew that one day, he would get his pride beaten. How he would react, I wouldn't know. I would only have to wait until that day happened.

I got up and stretched, stretching out my muscles and, in the process, earning a cramp. I quickly recoiled and waited for the cramp to fade. It didn't take long. I decided to wash up before eating breakfast. So I decided to walk over to the lake. The lake happened to be quite some distance, so pokemon going there had to be careful when walking. Humans happened to walk along the path every so often, so there was a good chance in getting caught and never being seen again.

I hid in the bushes, checking my surroundings to make sure no one was around. Once I knew it was safe, I cautiously stepped out, keeping my eyes and ears alert to anything that could mean trouble. After a few minutes, I relaxed and continued on my way. After walking a good distance, I finally arrived at the lake.

The lake itself was quite beautiful. It sparkled as clear as glass when the sun was at its highest point in the day. At night, it was as black as the sky itself, though with the moon, the lake was more beautiful than it was during the day. Mornings always made like any other lake.

I dipped my paws in the water and lowered my body close to the edge. I brought my paws out and began washing my face, since it always got dirty. The feel of the cool, wet water felt wonderful as it touched my skin. I moved onto the drying process where I let the cool breeze dry the water off. However, as I was doing so, I noticed three humans across the lake. They were all standing in one spot, looking at the lake.

I took note that they all wore black and had a big red letter on their upper body. I really wasn't sure who they were, but I wasn't that worried. But then, one of them began pointing at something. Whatever he was pointing at seemed to have caught the other tow humans' attention.

Quite confused at what they were pointing at, I checked my surroundings to see if there was something there. I turned my head back towards them, seeing nothing to see a flash of light form into that of a green bug with scythes for arms. I immediately knew it as a Scyther. The Scyther stood there, looking back at the human for a moment before running across the water and heading towards… me?

"You're mine," the Scyther said as he raised a scythe up. I leapt back in the nick of time, dodging the scythe as he brought it down. I thought back to what the humans were pointing at. Was it me they were pointing at? It must have been, for they released a Scyther to deal with me.

"What do you want?" I asked as I began dodging the scythes that were thrown at me.

"I only follow the orders my master tells me," the Scyther replied as his onslaught continued. "So I'm stalling until you're capture."

I didn't like the way the Scyther put that. I took note that the three humans were gone from the spot I saw them standing at earlier. If what the Scyther said was true, then that meant I was in some deep trouble. I leapt back from the Scyther's attack and began running back to my home area. Hopefully if I made it back, my dad would be able to handle the situation. Until then, I ran for my life, scared as I was.


	2. Chased

So here I was, running for my life from a Scyther who was stalling me until those humans came and caught me. I tried running as fast as my paws could go, but the bug was a lot faster, all thanks to his wings. He was practically on my tail when I turned my head to look. He raised his right scythe and was preparing to bring it down. I quickly ran to the left, barely dodging the striking scythe.

"Hold still, you little runt," he said as he resumed on chasing me.

"Please stop chasing me," I cried. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Like I said," the Scyther answered. "I only follow orders from my master. I never question them. All I know is that you're capture is needed."

"But why?" I asked, my breath growing short from running.

The Scyther didn't bother answering as he continued his chasing.

"He's too fast," I thought as I desperately tried to outrace him. I could feel my muscles starting to grow tight, my pace slackening to a slow. "I'll never make it."

The Scyther, once again, got up on me and raised his scythe again, attempting to strike down upon me. It probably would have happened if I hadn't suddenly tripped over my paws and fall. I felt the Scyther take a strike as he passed by me, missing me completely. The Scyther was caught off guard by the sudden event that he didn't have enough time recovering as he flew right into a tree.

I winced, knowing that that had to hurt. The Scyther slid down and crumpled onto the ground.

"Sorry," I said quickly as I resumed on running back to my home. Luckily I was almost there. Those humans and that Scyther would be so sorry that they tried capturing me. When it came to fighting to defend the family, my father was one of the best. His fire attacks always decimated his opponents to smithereens. Of course my father would never kill his opponents. He would just merely beat the pulp out of them and send them off, threatening them not to come back. Not one single opponent dad beat did. And this time shouldn't be any different.

I was so distracted in my thoughts on the many possible ways my dad could battle that I failed to see an obstacle in my way. Only when I hit it did I snap out of my thoughts. The obstacle I hit was none other than a human's leg. Unfortunately, the human's leg I ran into happened to be one of the humans I spotted standing on the other side of the lake.

"Thought you could get away, didn't you?" he said with a smile, though this smile wasn't a happy smile. It was more of an evil looking kind of smile. I tried to back up, but my body wasn't responding. I was frozen in place as the human bent down, his arm outstretched in order to pick me up. Just as his hand made contact with the back of my neck, the human began screaming in agonizing pain, for an orange stream of fire shot out from behind some bushes and engulfed his arm. The human ran off, his screaming echoing throughout the forest.

"That should alert all the pokemon," came my father's voice as he stepped out from behind the now burnt bush. "Quil, are you all right?"

"I think so," I replied, my body trembling from fright.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was just washing up over at the lake," I told him. "Then I spotted these humans on the other side just standing there. They saw me and sent a Scyther to attack me."

"Where is the Scyther now?" my father asked.

"He flew into a tree and lost him there," I replied. "Of course, then I ran into that human you torched just a second ago."

"I know," my father said. "Apparently those humans are everywhere. Get back to the family and get them out of here. And Quil, please be careful."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to try and rid these humans from our forest," my father replied. "No one messes with my family."

With that said, my father ran off into the forest, leaving me on my lonesome again. Of course, I turned around and ran the rest of the way back to our home, not wanting to encounter that Scyther again. Just as I was about to enter my home, I noticed a bunch of humans coming towards me. I quickly leapt into the bushes next to me and waited to see what would happen.

Apparently, they must not have spotted me fast enough, for they ran right past where I was hiding. I remained still, making no movement whatsoever so that I wouldn't be spotted. Once they were all out of sight, I made a break for it and practically leapt into my home.

"Mom!" I shouted. "Mom, wake up! We have to go. We're being attacked."

I stopped suddenly, noticing something I hadn't noticed when I ran in. The entire place was trashed. In some places, the grass was trampled while other parts showed signs of it being burned. The tree my parents slept in had a few marks on it, and the giant hole was bigger than it had been before.

I felt my heart start to pound with worry. Flare, Maria, and my mom were nowhere in sight. They were just gone.

"Mom!" I cried out. "Flare, Maria! Where are you?" My voice had a hint of tremble in it. Only one thought came to my mind as I looked about what used to be a neat, tidy area I called my home to see it utterly destroyed. With my dad out battling the humans and the rest of my family missing, I could only assume the worst. Even the memory of the humans passing me by while I was hiding in the bush made it clear to where they were.

It all came at me at once as I broke into a cry, the deep sadness that would remain in my heart for a very long time. My family, the ones I had loved the most in the world, were taken from me. I was alone now with no one to comfort me. I was truly alone.


	3. Para

The smell of smoke reached my nostrils as I sniffed, trying to hold myself together. I didn't know quite what do with everyone gone. I just stood there for what seemed to be a while. I felt my tears starting to dry upon my face, so I wiped them off with a paw. Of course, crying only made my eyes drier and more itchy. It was irritating not to rub them. With my tears dried up, I tried thinking of what I could do. I was too afraid to go back outside my home incase more of those humans were around. And then there was that Scyther I had no idea where he was at the moment. If he were looking for me, he would eventually find me.

I needed a plan of action, a way to go. Though I was scared and in pain, I remained calm and took a risk. I walked around to the other side of the tree and laid low, keeping my eyes alert for any signs of danger. The smell of smoke was really irritating. It made me hard to breathe. Kind of ironic for a fire type to know fire attacks and have an allergic reaction to them. To be honest, I'm completely terrified of fire. I can't even look at fire without sweating, even from a far distance.

After waiting for a while, I got up and ran to another tree. There, I ducked down and waited to see if anyone saw me. Luckily I wasn't.

"Whew!" I sighed with relief. But I wasn't in the clear yet. I went to get up and run again, but quickly ducked down as several humans ran past. Behind them, several pokemon were chasing them, using different attacks.

"Drive them out," one of them yelled as they disappeared into the forest. An explosion was heard somewhere from afar, but I didn't know exactly where. After waiting a few more minutes, I made a dash for the next tree to hide at. And so I continued running and hiding, making sure there was no one around that would spot me.

I came close, however, once or twice, almost hitting a human's leg. Luckily for me, they were busy battling other pokemon to even notice me. One tree j came to had some bushes nearby which began to rustle. I continued lying low, not sure what to expect. Finally, the being appeared out into the clearing. It was an injured pokemon. An injured pokemon I just so happened to know.

"Para!" I cried out, seeing the Paras slump to the ground. I got up and ran over to Para. "Para, are you all right? What happened?"

"Quil!?" Para said weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I came to get my family and escape, but I think they've been captured."

"They have?" Para asked. I nodded. Para sighed. "I was hoping your family would escape at least. All of mine have been captured."

"So you just ran until you ended up here?" I asked. "And how did you get those injuries?"

"Well," Para began. "It was right after my family was captured. Those humans tried capturing me, but I used my Spore attack to put them to sleep. I stayed hidden in the bushes as much as possible, but I was found by a Scyther."

"I ran into a Scyther too," I said. "Though I lost him after he flew into a tree. But how did you escape?"

"Your dad came and saved me," Para replied. "I went back into hiding and watched him beat that Scyther to a crisp."

"So do you know where he is now?" I asked.

"Quil," Para said. "Your father's been captured."

"What?" I said, staring at my friend in disbelief. "What do you mean he's been captured?"

"After your dad beat that Scyther, a whole bunch of humans surrounded him and sent outr more pokemon to attack him," Para explained. "He was too busy with them that he failed to notice one of the humans throwing a red and white ball at him. Before I knew it, your dad was gone."

"And you just sat there and watched?" I asked, anger welling up inside me.

"What was I supposed to do?" Para asked. "I'm only at a young age of five."

I sighed and said, "Sorry."

"It's all right," Para said. "But we can't stay here long. There's no telling where those humans are."

"Well we better move it before we're spotted," I said as I began to pick Para up. Unfortunately, some of the humans ran into the clearing and stopped upon seeing Para and I. The humans seemed to be looking at us in big confusion, but I had a feeling it was me they were staring at.

"Another Cyndaquil!?" one of them said surprisingly. "I thought we already captured him."

"Maybe that Typhlosion we captured had two of them," another human said.

"Well then this is our lucky day," a third said. "We have three rare pokemon in our care now."

"Quil," Para whispered, attracting my attention to her. "Make a break for it. Don't let yourself get captured."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Where am I supposed to run? We're blocked off."

"Not for long," Para said as she jumped away from me and used Spore on the humans, who were all off guard by the sudden attack. "Go now, Quil!" Para shouted to me. "It's you they're after."

"But why?" I asked.

"You're very rare to find out here in this world," Para replied as the humans behind me threw a couple of red and white balls into the air. "Don't allow yourself to be captured. Go and run now. I'll hold them off as best I can."

"How will you escape?" I asked.

"Not planning to," Para answered.

"But-" I said as the red and white balls opened up, releasing flashes of light.

"Get going," Para said. "Now! And don't look back."

"But-" I said again, not wanting to leave her behind.

"I said go," Para commanded angrily. "I will paralyze you if you don't."

The pokemon behind me began charging towards me. I took Para's advice and began running as fast as I could, completely terrified now than I was earlier.

"Breathe some of my Spore attack," I heard Para say as I ran away from the battle. I felt myself starting to whimper. My family was gone, Para was risking herself to prevent my capture, and the forest was under attack my humans. There was smoke all around me, filling up the once clean air. I was quite confused and exhausted.

There were sounds of explosions, the screeching of birds as they flew overhead, covered by the smoke, and fire in certain areas that I definitely wouldn't go near. I only had one option left to prevent myself from being captured: get out of the forest. Unfortunately, I had no idea which way the exit was.

My stomach growled hungrily. I had forgotten that I haven't had breakfast yet today. So not only was I tired and lost, but now I was hungry. Choosing a random direction which I hoped led away from the sounds of battle and the fire, I ran off, hoping that the path I chose would lead me somewhere. It led me somewhere alright, but it wasn't what I would expect. Running through a bunch of sticks which were once a bush, I ended up staring at the lake I was at a while ago. Only the lake had lost its sparkle. It was now plain and dirty looking.

I clutched a paw to my chest, my heart feeling like it would just break any moment at the event happening.

"If only I hadn't left my home today none of this probably wouldn't have happened," I thought as I took deep breaths to calm down. Unfortunately, my heart began racing up again as I heard rustling behind me.

"So I found you at last, you little runt," a familiar voice said from behind me. "Thought you could get away, didn't you?"

I turned around to see the Scyther I ran into earlier standing several feet behind me. Only his body was badly scorched, bits of black areas charring off him like flakes. I was too petrified to move at this point.

"I believe that you're the child of that Typhlosion my master's friends caught a while back," the Scyther said with a smirk. "I always think that the best way to get revenge is to go after someone weaker that being loves most. And you're going to be my payback from what that Typhlosion did to me."

I watched silently as the Scyther raised a scythe up and quickly brought it down, the scythe that was about to end my life.


	4. Bee

I shut my eyes, waiting for the painful strike that would end my life and leave me bleeding to death. The strike never came though, which I thought was odd until I heard a loud _CLANG_ followed by a surprised, "What!?" I was afraid to open my eyes and see what laid before me, but I took the risk anyhow.

Opening my eyes, I gazed up into the face of the Scyther who had a very surprised look on his face. I looked up to where his scythe was, mere inches from my face to be exact. But the scythe was in midair, met by a very large needle. I followed the needle to the owner, in which it turned out to be a Beedrill.

"Bee," I said, barely making a whisper out of it.

"Some nerve you have striking an innocent," Bee said angrily. "Try picking on someone more challenging, like me. Poison Sting!" Bee raised his free needle and fired multiple shots of small purple needles into the Scyther's chest. When it came to fighting, Bee had the most pinpoint accuracy of hitting his mark every time.

Bee was most known for his hard needles, being that he practically trained them on every item he could find, toughening them up so that when he fought opponents, they wouldn't break or burn on him.

The Scyther leapt back some, which only caused Bee to use the other needle to add more damage to him. The attack ended abruptly, the Scyther breathing heavily as he sank to his knees.

"Ugh!" he said. "Been poisoned. Nice job on defeating me, but Team Rocket have more pokemon than you can imagine. There is no escape from them. They'll train you until you break or maybe even die." The Scyther then coughed up some blood and used one of his scythes to support himself, but it gave way as he slumped to the ground. His breathing grew rasp and short.

I stared at him, my heart filled with pity as I looked into the eyes of hatred. Yet I somehow found something else there too, but I couldn't tell what it was. Bee buzzed his wings, diverting my attention to him.

"Come now," he said. "Let's get you to a more secluded area so that we can talk without being seen."

"One moment," I said, instantly running off. I rounded a bush and found berries on the other side of it. I picked one off and returned to Bee and the dying Scyther.

"What are you doing?" Bee asked as I popped the berry into the Scyther's mouth.

"Now we can get going," I said as I ran off. Bee followed, but was slightly confused at what I did. We both found a good spot to hide in for the time being. Bee settled down, resting his wings.

"So what's going on?" I instantly asked, my heart pounding a mile a minute. "Where's my family? Has my father been captured? Have they all been captured? What do I do?"

"Cease!" Bee commanded. I immediately fell silent. "Before I answer any of your questions, I like to know what that berry was you popped in the Scyther's mouth."

"You're going to hate me for this," I said. "It was one of those poison cure berries."

If Bee could be angry at anything at any given time, this was it. If it was one thing he didn't like, it was stupidity for having pity.

"You gave him a poison cure berry," he said, his voice rising a slight bit. "What in your right mind made you cure him?" I was silent. "Quil, you really have to stop having pity towards others. Thanks to you, that Scyther will now help the humans capture every single pokemon and destroy the forest."

"I can't help who I am," I said weakly. "I have to care. I just couldn't leave him there to die."

"And someday that will be your downfall," Bee said, sighing in frustration. The sounds of yelling, screeching, and exploding filled the silence between us for a while. Bee looked out through the leaves for a while, watching humans and pokemon scattering everywhere.

"It will be dark soon," he said after some time. "And this bush we're in is bound to be burned along with the rest. So I'm going to have to get you out of this forest before nightfall."

"But what about my family?" I asked.

"I don't know where your family is," Bee replied. "To be honest, I don't recall seeing them at all today. But thankfully you're still safe. Any news on Para and Tai?"

"No news on Tai," I said. "But Para risked her life for me to escape."

"Idiot!" Bee snapped. "You should have stayed by her side and helped her through. You know that she's not strong enough to take down tougher opponents. Where is your head?"

I couldn't answer Bee. I felt scared, but yet a new feeling was building up inside me. My heart felt like it was just sinking in my own self, though I had the urge to say something smart back to him, like I was angry or something. I couldn't be. It just wouldn't be me.

"Well what's done is done," Bee said. "I have to get you out of the forest now."

"You know where the exit is?" I asked.

"Of course," Bee answered. "I have to know the area in case of something dire happening, like this attack. Follow me. I'll make sure you get out safely."

Bee buzzed his wings as he took flight and flew off. I leapt out of the bushes and followed close behind, happy that I was getting out, yet frightened of any encounters along the way.


	5. Escape

My ears were ringing as I ran. The explosions I've been hearing were mainly the cause of it. Up above Bee flew, keeping a weary eye out on anything that I might run into. My nostrils burned from the smoke, my breathing shortening.

"You all right down there?" Bee asked, taking a look at me.

"There's too much smoke," I answered best I could, though I think I choked out the words. "How much further?"

"We still have a ways to go," Bee replied as he shot out more of his Poison Sting upon a human whose back was towards us. The human yelped with pain upon contact, quickly falling and writhing in pain. I stopped abruptly, staring at the hurt human.

"Forget him, Quil," Bee said. "He's part of this whole attack. He deserves what he got."

"But look at the pain he's in," I said. "Surely you don't want him dying from your own attack?"

"Quil," Bee said. "If you had any idea the kind of work these humans do, you would leave them for dead too."

"Maybe," I said as the human's breath grew rasp.

"We can't stay here," Bee said, sounding a bit worried. "We're out in the open as easy targets. I don't want us getting captured. So let's move."

"But the human," I said. I heard Bee growl in frustration as he landed next to the human whose breath was weakening. I was confused at why Bee had raised his needle until he brought it down into the human's back. I gasped in horror as the human's breathing immediately ceased. Bee pulled out his needle, looking at the blood dripping off it.

"Listen to me and you better listen well," Bee said, all emotion gone. "Life isn't all good and kind. There are people and pokemon out there that are cruel and will show no mercy for you. Saving this pathetic human's life wouldn't change the fact that he would be glad you saved his life. He would only end up capturing you and eventually kill you."

Again, I felt the same angering feeling bubbling up inside. All I felt like doing was shouting at him for defense of my actions, but I didn't. Instead, I drew in a long, deep breath and let it out, along with a small whimper. Bee sighed in frustration, clearly tired and annoyed by how I act.

"Alright," he said, wiping the blood onto the grass. "I am clearly ticked off at this. You need to start knowing what's right and what's wrong."

"I know what's what," I said, feeling a little bit annoyed myself from his attitude.

"Oh you do? Well what about that Scyther you saved from my poisoning? Was that right?"

"It felt like the right thing to do," I replied, getting yet another growl from Bee. The conversation probably would have continued on forever if not for a bunch of humans showing up.

"That Cyndaquil is still alive!?" one of them said, sounding surprised by m appearance. "I thought that Scyther of yours took it out."

"Well he was only supposed to weaken it enough where I could catch him, sir," another human spoke out. "But I somehow lost him in the smoke and the fire and-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," the first guy yelled. "The Cyndaquil is right here in front of us. That's all that matters. Get him."

Bee reacted fast to this. Lifting both needles, he aimed them at the humans' feet, releasing another round of Poison Sting. The humans retreated but one who managed to dodge the poison.

"This should take care of you," he growled as his hand reached down towards his side. I was curious as to what he was going to take out, but a sudden yell stopped him. We both looked up to a still standing tree as a Caterpie swung down at him by String Shot, right into his face. The force of impact knocked him out cold as the Caterpie landed.

"Glad to see you guys haven't been captured yet," he said. "Where are you off to?"

"I'm leading Quil away from the forest," Bee replied. "Where have you been, Tai?"

"Here and there, ambushing the humans mostly," Tai replied. "It's so much fun seeing their surprised reactions for just a few seconds before I knock them out cold."

"Same old Tai," Bee muttered. Tai was the most hyper pokemon I knew. He always made everything that happened fun. And it seemed to make Bee a little happier whenever he was in a bad mood.

"So is the exit far?" I asked.

"Nah," Tai replied. "Not if you take that shortcut right there." I turned and looked at where he was referring to. It was a yet another bush, though this bush had a fairly good size hole, which made it into a tunnel. "Just take that path. I've managed to protect it so far. It leads you all the way to the exit."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"I use it all the time for a good hiding spot," Tai admitted. "Can't say for sure if any other part is burnt, but you'll just have to risk it."

"So what do I do once I get out?" I asked.

"Head for the nearest city," Bee answered. "And don't bother coming back to the forest unless you want to be captured and be forced to do things you normally don't want to do."

I nodded and asked, "What about you guys? Are you coming too?"

"This is my home," Bee said. "I'm going to defend it until my end. So take care, Quil. May we meet again." Bee took off, flying away as Tai began climbing up a tree.

"I'm just going to remain here and ambush more of those humans," Tai said happily. "I don't care if I'm caught. Just let me have my fun. Be careful, Quil."

"I will," I said before running through the tunnel bush. I ran like that Scyther was on my tail, though I was running a lot faster than I normally was. My heart pounded, my desire burning to be free. The bush remained intact as I ran, not burnt in the least until I was halfway through.

The coast was clear, luckily, as I ran across and returned under the leaves and ran the rest of the way to the exit. I was blinded as I shot out of the bushes and had to stop momentarily until my eyesight adjusted. Living in a dimly lit forest really takes a toll on your eyes if you never left.

"Oh great," I said. Due to the brightness of the light, my eyes registered everything as fuzzy looking. I really couldn't see that far at all. "What a time for my eyes to go fuzzy. Some day this is turning out to be."

I looked around, trying to figure out what all the fuzzy objects were. I knew that the forest behind me was nothing but trees. The grass was a bit fuzzy as well. I looked upward into the sky and saw a huge cloud of black smoke hovering over the forest, though I had to squint my eyes to see it.

I sighed, knowing that I could never return to my home. Everyone I knew and loved were gone, my forest and home were now destroyed, and to make matters worse, I was partially blind. I felt my heart go heavy, like someone just took it and tore it and then set it under a rock. And again, for the third time today, I felt that same bubbling anger rise up in me. I had a brief moment where I almost wanted to go in and hurt those who hurt me real bad, but again, I wasn't that type of person.

Instead, I turned around, a paw clutched to my chest as my heart began hurting again. Being that I didn't want to be captured, I began moving onward, heading for the nearest city Bee told me to travel to, though it was going to be hard because of my poor eyesight. However, I was began walking away, I felt something beginning to build up inside me just a bit. It felt like anger, but it was a completely different kind of anger I had. A different kind of anger I couldn't figure out quite what it was.


	6. Arrival

I rubbed my eyes, hoping to clear them up. Unfortunately everything remained the same: blurry. It wasn't all that hard to see though, being that I was in a field of some sort and there was no sign of trouble. But still, the fact that my eyesight was blurry made it a bit difficult for me to actually tell if someone would be friendly or mean.

I tried rubbing my eyes again, but it only seemed to make matters worse. The blurriness just seemed to get even more blurry, so I quit rubbing and walked on. I felt my stomach growl, indicating that it was starving badly. The emptiness of my stomach was draining my energy, causing me to slow some until I eventually dragged myself to walk. And to make matters worse, the sun was so hot, my energy was practically drained to almost nothing. I even felt the sweat dripping down me.

I began wishing I was back in the forest. It was quite cool and damp there, but going back would mean the end for me. I felt like resting, but giving the state I was in, I didn't think that would be a very wise option.

The sun eventually rose to the highest part of the day, causing the air to grow hot. The sun beat down on me at full force. I felt my body becoming heavier for every step I took. It was getting harder for me to walk on. It wasn't long before I collapsed due to hunger and exhaustion. My body was too heavy for me to even get back up.

I sighed in defeat, knowing that I wouldn't be able to go on. I felt the touch of the soft grass on me, though it was a bit cool. A cool breeze suddenly swept by, relaxing my body some. It actually felt quite good. Good enough for me to drift off and sleep, but I didn't. Not now while I was still in broad daylight.

I turned my head when it began to start hurting for laying on one side for so long. I paused in mid-turn at a sight I wasn't quite too sure about. Some distance away I saw a bunch of tall looking things that went partially up into the sky. There were unfamiliar things moving about behind them along with unidentified objects that moved faster than the slower ones. A thought occurred to me as Bee's words played in my head.

"Could this be the city he was talking about?" I wondered to myself. Curios to know, I forced myself to get up, my body a little bit rested, but not nearly enough. Plus there was still the growling stomach of starvation that was bothering me. I took only a few steps forward, making my way towards the city when suddenly, I lost my footing and began tumbling down at a fast pace. The ground beneath me was sloping downward as I went.

Eventually the ground level out again, but still I continued to tumble until my head hit something hard, stopping my fall.

"Ow!" I cried out, rubbing my hurting head. I felt the tears beginning to well up inside me as I began to whimper. Through the blurriness I could barely make out the slope of a small hill I tumbled down. Above in the sky was the black smoke, drifting away from where I was.

I heard the sounds of wails of cries, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. Moments later, I watched as big moving objects shot up the hill, heading for where the smoke was. Some were black cars with red and blue flashing lights on top while others were red and much more larger, also with the same flashing colors. I watched as they went up the hill and disappeared, the sounds of their wailing fading into the distance.

My head was still a bit sore, but it didn't hurt nearly enough as it did seconds ago. I took a deep breath and got up, walking around the large building I hit. I walked straight into the city and stared at all the people bustling about. For a moment, I thought I was in trouble, my thoughts traveling back to the humans who destroyed my home. But there was something different about these humans.

I noticed through my blurry eyes that they were wearing different kinds of color, unlike those who wore all black with the huge red letter. And what's more, they didn't seem to pay much attention to me at all. They just walked right past me, which made me feel relieved.

A bit beyond the humans were different kinds of color objects that were moving and stopping every so often. They moved upon a black surface, traveling in both directions. I would have gone and checked it out, but first I needed to find some way to regain my eye sight.

Following the direction the humans were going, I began searching for a place that could fix my eyes, if there were any. I couldn't see the humans' faces nor could I see what the strange markings read. Not even squinting helped.

Again, my stomach growled, only louder this time. I grew nervous as the humans stared down upon me as they walked on by, their faces too blurry to see. I took a right and went down into a small area that was spaced some. There were buildings on both sides of me, but I wasn't too worried. I just stared out as the humans past by. I didn't know where to go at this point. I was freaking out.

A noise behind me grabbed my attention. I turned around quickly, startled by the noise. Apparently I wasn't alone as I thought. Walking up towards me was some sort of blue pokemon along with one that was pink, and two that were white.

"Hello?" I called out, squinting to see who they were.

"What are you doing in our alley?" one of them spoke. I believed it to be the blue one who asked me the question, for the other three were behind him. I remained silent as they approached. "Again I ask. What are you doing in our alley?"

"You live here?" I asked as the pokemon surrounded me.

:What part of our alley do you not get?" one of the white creatures asked me. He was standing on two legs and had a tail. He seemed to be a monkey.

"Well I'm sort of new in town," I replied. "I'm just looking for a place to eat."

"If you want to eat, then I suggest you try out the garbage," the blue pokemon said. This pokemon also stood on two legs. Plus he seemed to have muscle.

"I doubt garbage would really fill me up," I admitted, but that seemed to get a more worse situation than I expected.

"So you don't think nothing's good for you, eh?" the blue pokemon asked. "You think you're better than us? Is that it?"

"No," I said in defense. "I just meant-"

"Oh we know what you meant," the blue pokemon said. "You come into our part of the city to ridicule us and cause all sorts of trouble. Well believe me, if you've been looking for trouble, then I'm afraid trouble's found you."

"I didn't know anyone was in here," I said, feeling my anger starting to rise up in me

"Likely excuse," said the other white pokemon who looked like a rabbit or a dog, though it was a female. "I think he just came here to throw us out onto the streets."

"Well we're not going to let that happen now, are we?" the blue pokemon asked as he cracked his fingers. I gulped, knowing that a fight was soon to break out and I was the target of their attack.

"I'm not going to fight you," I said. "I dislike fighting." The four pokemon busted out laughing at this comment. I felt a blush creep on me. I hung my head down in shame as the laughing continued.

"I never heard of a pokemon not wanting to fight," the blue pokemon laughed. "You have got to be the most pathetic pokemon in the world." Again I felt the tears welling up inside along with that bubbling anger all at the same time.

"Stop it," I whispered softly, the tears starting to fall freely from my face.

"What's that?" the blue pokemon asked. "I can't hear the baby weakling well enough."

"I told you to stop," I said, the laughing continuing. "I said STOP!" I yelled, shouting out the last word. Still they all laughed, causing my tears to continue falling. The more they laughed, the more angrier I felt. The more angrier I felt, the more I felt like hurting them. What was I thinking? I wasn't the kind to hurt someone, much less someone who was being a bully. But I was very close to doing so.

My paw began trembling with something I couldn't quite explain. I was just about to go do something about it when suddenly, the blue pokemon immediately stopped laughing as he was pushed backwards, flying high into the sky and crashing into round metal things.

The other three stopped laughing as well as the monkey pokemon was thrown against the building, slumping down to the ground unconscious. The other white pokemon was the next to go, followed by the pink. I blinked, looking around in confusion.

"Did I do this?" I pondered. To my surprise, I got a response.

"I wouldn't think a pokemon like you would be able to." I jumped, looking around as the tears began drying.

"Who's there?" I asked, looking for the source of the voice.

"Well how rude of me," the voice said. "It wouldn't be any good if you couldn't see me. Turn around and look up."

I did as the voice told me and watched as a black being materialized from out of nowhere.

"Are you all right?" the new being asked.

"I think so," I replied with a sniff.

"Don't be bothered by them," the being said. " They enjoy picking on the weak."

"They certainly did a good job," I said with another sniff. "I'm Quil."

"Priss is my name," the being said. "And I'm a Misdreavus. People normally call me Priss the Misdreavus because it rhymes."

"Priss the Misdreavus," I said, giggling at the name. The Misdreavus chuckled at my reaction, glad to see I was better.

"So what brings a Cyndaquil like you to Cherry Grove City?" Priss asked. So this city was named Cherry Grove. Thinking of cherries began to make my stomach growl as loud as it could. I blushed in embarrassment as I looked down at it.

"Well, for one thing, I need something to eat," I replied.

"Well then follow me," Priss said. "I know a perfect place to eat. It will be on me."

"Thanks," I said, not following through by the last sentence she said. I didn't bother worrying though. Right now, I just needed something to eat.


	7. Tables, Pizza and Chairs, Oh My!

"Where are we?" I asked once we stopped. All around were people walking, sitting, and standing in front of weird looking rectangle shape things.

"This is what we call a plaza," Priss explained. "It's sort of like an outdoor market. People go around and buy items they really like. And then when they get hungry, they go eat." I looked around, trying to make out everything, but it was just too hard to see.

"What's that one?" I asked, pointing in a random direction.

"That would be a Pizza stand," Priss said.

"What's pizza?" I asked.

"Pizza is a kind of food made out of sauce," Priss explained. "First they create the pizza out of dough. Then they spread the sauce on it and cook it. Of course, you can add different toppings to it."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well there's cheese, pepperoni, anchovies, mushrooms, chili peppers, and possibly many more," Priss said.

Pizza sounds good," I said, my mouth watering.

"How many would you like and what kind of toppings would you like?" Priss asked.

"Two please," I answered. "With cheese and that pepper stuff."

"Coming right up," Priss said. "Why don't you find us a good table to sit at."

"What's a table?" I asked, but got no answer. I looked around and saw the people who were sitting down. I scratched my head in both confusion and irritation. I squinted my eyes, trying to find this so called table. My eyesight was able to make out a big round thing on legs with several objects around it.

I walked up to it and studied them. The big round thing was a huge circle with metal rods coming down and standing on the ground. I banged hard on the metal rods, jumping back as a sound rang out from it. I figured that this was a table, since it didn't fall.

Next I studied one of the weird things that were by it. Starting from the bottom up, there were four legs that eventually attached to a square. In the back was something sticking up, but I couldn't tell what it was. I walked up to the strange looking object and and banged on that one too.

Unlike the table, this thing moved. I was caught off guard and backed up, expecting an attack from the movable object. None came. I slowly moved close to the object again and lightly pushed it, the object moving out more. I stopped when I moved from out from under the table, looking at the movable object with a bit of confusion.

"People normally call it a chair," came Priss's voice suddenly, startling me.

"A chair?" I asked, somewhat confused.

"It's what people use to sit in," Priss said as she floated over with three circular white things next to her. On her other side were tall, white looking things with a weird bending object sticking out of them. "I didn't know what you like to drink, so I got you a Hawaiian Punch."

Priss set the stuff down on the table. I looked up, wondering how I would get to my food when I suddenly felt myself being hoisted up and set down upon the chair. It was hard, yet cool to the touch. I felt it scoot closer to the table so I could eat my food.

"I hope you enjoy," Priss said as I stared at my food. They were both orange and triangular, though one had red circles on them than the other. I picked that one up first and studied it closely. It felt warm and smelled great. I took a small bite from the tip and chewed on it. The taste was alright to my liking.

I decided to take a bigger bite, in which I ate one of the red circles. It had a tangy, yet a small burning taste to my mouth. It was pretty good. The next bite was too hot for my liking. I yelped in pain, my tongue hurting.

"Sip from the cup," Priss said as the tall thing slid over to me. I quickly took a sip from the bending object and felt a cold liquid go down my throat. It had a wonderful taste to it. It helped cool my mouth off in a hurry.

"That felt good," I said, though my tongue still hurt a bit.

"Hot foods always burn," Priss said. "Have you ever tried a Tomato Berry?"

"I don't think I have," I answered.

"Well I'd suggest never trying one," Priss said. "They're not only hot, but they're spicy as well."

"Oh," I said as I blew on the pizza.

"So where do you live?" Priss asked me as I took a more careful bite.

I swallowed and answered her. "I used to live over in a forest a ways from here. But a bunch of humans ambushed me and destroyed my home." I felt the pain returning as I talked about it. "Some friends helped me escape, but I don't know what happened to them."

"Wait," Priss said. "You don't mean that forest that had black smoke rising from it?" I nodded. I couldn't see what Priss's reaction was, but what I did hear was a small gasp. "And you're the only wild pokemon that managed to escape?" I nodded again. "Talk about being lucky."

"I'm not lucky," I said gloomily. "My parents have been captured, my friends are probably gone, and what's worse, my eyes are all blurry."

"So this whole time you escaped, you've been having trouble seeing?" Priss asked, to which I nodded again. "Well why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know," I said, a bit upset. "It's just been a stressful day for me. How would you feel if your home was invaded and you were the only survivor?" Whoa! Where did that come from? Did I just snap at her?

"I guess I would feel the same way you do," Priss responded after a moment's thought.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to snap."

"I understand," Priss said. "You've been forced out of your home by cruel people. Now you're out in this big world all by yourself. You have every right to be upset."

"So what am I going to do about my eyes?" I asked her.

"Well it just so happens that my Mistress is a specialist in fixing up eyes," Priss said. "She might be able to help you."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm sure she'll be able to," Priss said. "Just out of curiosity, how did your eyes get the way they are?"

"The forest was always dimly lit by the sun," I told her. "Coming out after five years of living in there really takes a toll on them, especially if the sun shines brightly in them."

"I see," Priss said. The two of us quickly finished our lunch and soon set off. I followed Priss back out to the buildings and soon halted in front of one.

"This is the place," Priss said as the door opened up. I felt a blast of cold air hit me ful force. The feel felt good as I walked inside. "Wait right over there," Priss said, referring to some more chairs to which people and pokemon sat in. "I'll be right back." Priss began floating away, but I stopped her for a sec.

"Thanks for lunch," I said.

"You're welcome," Priss said as she floated off behind a wall. I walked over to the chairs, getting more looks from people and pokemon. I was a little nervous being stared at. I quickly hopped up into one of the remaining chairs that weren't occupied and sat.

Unlike the last chair, this one was quite comfortable. The feel of the chair was making me tired again. My eyes closed, sleep coming to me when Priss's voice awakened me again.

"Quil," she said. "There's a room open for you. My Mistress is waiting. Follow me."


	8. Adjusted Eyes

I hopped off the comfort of the chair I sat on and followed Priss around the wall. I then walked down a small pathway, a few openings on my right and left. Priss turned right and disappeared into one of the openings. I followed in and stopped, trying to make out what everything was. Too bad I couldn't still.

"Over here, Quil," came Priss's voice. My eyes wandered over to the black, floating shape of the Misdreavus who was hovering close to yet another chair, only the color was black. I hopped up on the chair. The feel was cold and much different from metal. It felt like it was being covered by something.

"Just wait here for a few," Priss said as she floated out the opening into the pathway. "I'll be back with my Mistress."

And so I sat, fidgeting nervously. There were big things that I couldn't see. Even if I could, I wouldn't be able to identify them anyway. I heard something soothing within the room. It was calming. I thought back to the time when my mother sang me lullabies just to get me to sleep. It was just as soothing as this new sound.

I felt my body relaxing, getting used to this kind of sound. My eyes shut, exhaustion overwhelming me. I felt myself starting to lose consciousness fast when I heard Priss's voice say, "I'm back." I struggled to open my eyes. The exhaustion was too strong, but nevertheless, I managed to open my eyes.

"You look tired," Priss noticed. What a way to notice the obvious. "You should get some rest after my Mistress helps get your eyesight back." Behind Priss I noticed a human walking in. This human was wearing white all over.

"Is she this Mistress of yours?" I asked, a bit nervous.

"She is," Priss replied. "There's nothing to be worried about. She's quite good at helping people with their eyes. If all goes well, you should have your eyes cleared in no time."

I nodded, understanding her and trying to stay awake.

"O.K.," the human said, her voice giving off that feminine sound. "So from what Priss tells me, you're having trouble seeing. Am I right?"

I nodded my head again.

"Well don't you worry," the human said. "I'll get those eyes of yours cleared in no time." I watched with worry as the human walked over to a table and picked something up.

"No need to be nervous," Priss told me. "All she's going to do is cover up one of your eyes just to see how bad they really are. Then she's going to switch and do the other side."

My heart began pounding even after my Priss had something covering my eye.

"Alright now, Cyndaquil," the human said.

"Quil," I said.

"Come again?" the human asked.

"Quil," I repeated, pointing to myself.

"Quil?" the human said. "Your name is Quil?"

"Quil," I said once more with a nod.

"Alright then," the human said. "Quil, I'm going to show you different letters and I want you to be able to tell me if it's one or the other."

She held up something in her hand. I really couldn't tell what it was.

"Don't worry about getting it right or wrong," Priss said. "Just remember that we're testing your eyes out."

O.K.," I gulped.

"Quil," the human said. "I want you to tell me whether this letter I'm holding is a C or a G. Raise your right paw for G and your left for C."

I hesitated, squinting hard at the letter. It looked like a curve, but it was hard to distinguish. In response, I slowly raised my left paw up. I couldn't tell of the human's reaction, but she turned about and placed the letter down.

"Next letter," the human said. "Raise your right paw if you think this letter is an R or your left paw if it's a P."

Again I squinted, staring hard at the unknown letter. It was too hard to see though, so I raised my right paw. The human turned around and held another letter.

"Right paw for Q or left paw for O," she said, to which I raised my right paw again. After a few more letters given out, the thing covering my right eye covered the other eye. And again the process was repeated.

Once that was done, the human picked something up and began scribbling down something from the looks of it.

"Well Quil," she said. "I'm not going to lie to you. You're eyesight is poor. I mean really poor. If only pokemon could talk, I'd be able to find out all their problems."

"I didn't do anything to ruin my eyes, did I?" I asked Priss nervously as she examined the results herself.

"Let me put it this way," Priss said after a few minutes. "When people go into a building and it gets dark and they stay there for a while until they come out, the sunlight blinds them temporarily. Only in your case, living in a forest for five years and coming out into the sunlight then can put a temporary to almost permanent blindness on your eyes."

"So you're saying that I might be like this forever?" I asked, afraid of the answer to come.

"I'd say about an even chance of it happening or not," came the answer. "There may be a way to get rid of all that blurriness in your eyes. I just hope it works."

"What way would that be?" I asked.

"Well," Priss said. "One way would be to put a special kind of powder in your eyes."

"There's another way?" I asked.

"There is," Priss replied. "But I'd rather not go into detail about that one. Let's just focus upon the first one for now."

The human, who was quiet for some time, finally spoke up. "Hate to break you two up, but there are other customers I have to deal with today. So I can't be wasting time. This way please."

I hopped off the chair and followed Priss and her Mistress back into the small pathway, going from one room to another. The room I was in looked completely the same, at least to me. I hopped in yet another chair and was told to rest my head down upon something while looking into this black screen looking thing.

"O.K., Quil," the human said. "Don't move your eye. Just stare straight ahead." I followed the human's instructions and stared into the screen. A moment went by where nothing happened. Then suddenly, something shot into my eye. I shot back, clutching my eye as I felt myself tipping over.

I felt myself freeze in mid-air as the chair I was on fell to the floor.

"You alright, Quil?" Priss asked me as I floated to the floor gently. I figured that she migt have been something to do with it.

"What was that?" I asked confused, still clutching my eye.

"I told you of some special powder being put in your eye," Priss said. "It helps others relax the first time they're here so that they don't get worked up. Any way, that's what we call tissue powder."

"Tissue powder?" I said.

"It helps readjust the eye so it can see a bit more clearly," Priss explained. "It doesn't work all the time. But hopefully in your case, it should have helped."

I removed my paw from my eye and blinked several times. One thing I immediately noticed was that my eye was different than the other.

"Hey!" I said happily. "I can see. My eye is cleared."

"Thank goodness," Priss said as I turned to her.

"What about my other eye?" I asked.

"Just repeat the process," Priss said. "Your other eye should be cleared in seconds."

So I did as I was told and had the powder shot in my other eye. I recoiled, but wasn't caught off guard this time. I blinked a few times before I had a clear vision in both my eyes.

"Wow!" I said as I looked about the place. "I can see everything very well now. Thanks Priss."

"I didn't do that much," Priss said. "You should thank my Mistress. She was the one helping you out."

"But you helped me out as well when I couldn't see," I said. "So I guess I owe you for that." Priss could only smile as the human girl began walking up.

"I'll see you out at the register," she said as she left the room.

"Actually you owe me two since I'm paying for you," Priss said as she followed her Mistress.

"Three counting the lunch," I said before yawning. Priss stopped before she left and noticed my exhaustion.

"I forgot," she said. "You've had a rough day. Follow me real fast. There's a spare bedroom upstairs." I followed Priss as quickly as I could, only thinking about rest. After a climbing up a flight of steps, I came to a halt behind Priss as she opened up a door, which led into another room. There wasn't quite a lot in the room, but it suited me fine.

"My Mistress and I use this for any special customer," Priss explained. "Feel free to come and go as you please."

"Sleep, now," I growled irritably, my eyes shutting fast. I felt myself being raised into the air and being placed down upon something soft and comfy.

"Hope you have sweet dreams, Quil," I heard Priss say moments before I drifted out.


	9. A New Day

I opened my eyes and took a long, deep breath, taking a look around at where I was. I froze instantly when I found myself in a completely different area, the entire scenery of the forest gone. My heart began racing, wondering how I got here. Then the memory of the attack in the forest replayed in my head. Thinking of these memories only brought pain back to my heart.

Again and again they played. They wouldn't stop. I tried pushing the thoughts aside, but they wouldn't leave. I sighed depressingly as I got up, now knowing where I was. Unfortunately I forgot I was on something and lost my balance, crashing hard upon the ground.

"Ow!" I cried out as I slowly got up and sat against the comfort of the thing I slept on last night. The pain didn't last long luckily as it faded. I got up again and began walking towards the opened door. I poked my head out, looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone there to ambush me.

Once I found that it was safe, I made a mad dash for the steps I climbed. I began running down them only to trip over my own paws and tumble down until I made contact with something hard, returning even more pain.

I yelped and clutched at where I hurt the most. I was too in pain that I didn't hear someone running up until they spoke.

"Oh you poor thing," a girl voice said as I felt myself being picked up. "I should have realized that you were wild. You probably woke up scared and confused."

"Among other things," I thought.

"If you're looking for Priss, she had a few things to do today," the human said. I remembered seeing her as the one who helped me with my eyesight. "I didn't know what you liked for breakfast, so I made you toast along side with a certain jelly you want."

I was in the human's arms now, worried that this may be a trap. Walking by a whole lot of other people and pokemon, I ended up in a new room that was sort of small. I was placed down upon a table and stared at the piece of food before me. It was brown and sort of hard looking.

I picked up the brown thing and nibbled on it. The taste was sort of crunchy and dry. Words came back about some sort of jelly. I looked to my left to see three different colored cylinders next to me. One was bright red while another was dark violet. Then the other was violet looking. I decided to take the red one and studied it carefully.

It was round, cylinder, and had some sort of small circular thing on top of it. I blinked as I tried prying it off. To no avail did it work. Then I tried twisting it. Voila! It began to turn. I kept turning the thing until it came off. I figured that it was a lid. I peered down into the cylinder and smelled the familiar smell of strawberries, though it didn't look like them. I turned the cylinder over and slowly, the red glop began pouring out. Once I figured I had enough, I turned the cylinder right back up and set it down. I began eating the now gloppy toast. It was better with the glop on it. I quickly ate it, my stomach being filled.

"Yum!" I said happily. "That was great." I then noticed two more cylinders there, only they were liquid. One was white while the other was orange. I picked up the orange one first and downed it quickly. It smelled and tasted of oranges. After that, I picked up the white one and downed that one quickly too. It was cold, but good. Once I was finished, I hopped off the table, this time landing on all four paws.

I walked out of the room, my stomach completely filled from the small breakfast. It was short, but still good. I stretched my muscles out as I walked back into the large room. I wasn't enjoying the stares of all the humans and pokemon, so I decided to take my leave.

I saw my exit and began walking towards until I whacked into something hard. Something wasn't right. I was looking outside, but it was like there was something there preventing me from leaving. I tapped the invisible barrier separating me from the outside and blinked in confusion.

I began pushing it. It moved a little. I tried pushing some more, but the barrier was too heavy for me to open. Suddenly, I fell again. The barrier opened and I felt a rush of warm air blast me.

"There you go," the human girl said as she stood there with her arm stretched out. "I know wild pokemon don't enjoy closed spaces, so you can head out. You're welcome back anytime."

"Thanks," I said as I walked out. I stared around the city I was in. It was busy and way too noisy for me. I took a right and began walking again. The morning air was a bit cool, but warm at the same time. I stayed close to the buildings, trying to avoid attention, but was failing miserably.

People stopped, stared, and few of them pointed at me. I wasn't enjoying being the center of attention, especially of me being rare and all. I eventually had enough of people turning to look at me and went down a small alleyway. Big mistake that was.

I sat down to cool off for a while and possibly hide from any humans who wandered in. I was beginning to think it was a bad idea leaving the building I was in. But where else was I supposed to go? My home was wrecked and I was afraid to go back incase those cruel humans were still there.

As I sat in the cool shade, my ears picked up movement. I got up and hid in between two of the silver cylinders. Nothing happened for a while.

"Must have been the wind," I thought as I walked out from my hiding spot. I froze instantly at the sound of a voice.

"Well look who decided to show up," came the familiar voice of someone I knew. "It's that trouble making Cyndaquil." I turned my head to the right to see the blue pokemon walking up to me. The other three surrounded me like before, preventing my escape. I recognized the three as a Mankey and two Nidorans. But the blue pokemon was unknown to me.

"Hello," I said, trying to sound cheerful. "Listen, I want to apologize for yesterday. I was having a very bad day and had a little trouble with my eyesight."

"Well too bad for you that you're in even more trouble," the blue pokemon said, cracking his knuckles. "Because we're about to get even for you kicking us out of our spot thanks to your little friend."

"You mean Priss?" I asked. "I just met her yesterday."

"Sure you did," the female Nidoran said, like she didn't believe me. "Nice pokemon always like to make trouble."

"I'm not trying to make any," I said defensively. "Look I'm sorry if I caused any problems. If you just move aside, I promise to leave and never come back."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, Cyndaquil," the blue pokemon said. "You're planning on chasing us out of our city. We're going to make sure you never do that."

The blue pokemon pulled his hand back, his hand a fist and thrust it forward, aiming for my face. Somehow, in that instant, I seemed to have ducked, the punch completely missing me and instead, smacking the Mankey who was taken by surprise.

Both Nidorans were also surprised by this event. I quickly shot my head up, planning on making my escape. Unfortunately for me, I ended up banging my head against the pokemon's arm, which caused him to scream in pain. I was surprised by what I did, but didn't bother sticking around.

"Sorry," I yelled back as I ran out from the alley. I didn't dare look back incase they chased me. I ran as fast as I could, passing by all the humans, leaving confused looks on their faces. I made a right turn and ran down a much quieter area. I eventually stopped, coming to a dead end.

"Wrong way," I said as I went to go turn around. Unfortunately, the two Nidoran were right behind me, blocking off my escape route.

"We got you now, Cyndaquil," the female growled. "You're going to pay for what you've done to Mac."

"I'm sure we can talk something out," I said. "I mean he attacked me first."

"Right after your friend saved you," the male Nidoran said. "And now, we're going to pay back for all that's happened to us since you came."

The Nidoran began walking forward, their horns glowing. I could only stand there and not do nothing but tremble, unsure what to do. The Nidoran were close to me, their horns still glowing. I finally figured out that they were using their Horn Attack, which was filled with all sorts of poison.

Oddly, just as they struck, they froze suddenly, not moving. I was confused at first to as why they didn't move until the reason appeared from the air.

"Can't leave you alone for an hour without you getting into trouble, can I?" Priss asked, hurling away the two Nidos.

"Heh, thanks," I said. "I guess that's four I owe you for."

"If you keep this up, you might end up owing everybody," Priss said half-jokingly. "But I wouldn't do that too often. Owing people will eventually get you hurt. Or worse."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

"You do that," Priss said. "In the mean time, I think I'm going to need you to do me a favor."


	10. First Favor

"What kind of favor?" I asked curiously.

"I have a friend in Violet City who has something she needs protecting," Priss replied.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well I'm not too keen on what it is," Priss replied. "What I do know is that it has some sort of power to identify all ghosts. And in the hands of the wrong people, it could spell disaster for all ghosts."

"So why does it need protecting?" I asked.

"From what my friend told me, she's been hearing talk going around that the item is going to be stolen," Priss said. "By whom she has no idea. But the only people I know who would ever want to steal anything would be Team Rocket."

"Do you mean those guys in black uniforms?" I asked. Priss replied with a nod. "So they steal things and pokemon?"

"Unfortunately," Priss said. "Team Rocket is known for that. They'll do what they're told and have no regrets doing it. They mostly stay grouped together."

"So I'm going to get this item and give it to you?" I asked.

"Well I'm not entirely sure if you're bringing it back here," Priss admitted. "I guess I forgot to ask where my friend wants it. You'll have to ask her yourself. I'd ask but my friend seems to think she's being spied upon. So it's up to you to journey to the city and retrieve the item."

I nodded my head in response, understanding what was expected of me. "Don't you worry, Priss," I said. "You can count on me." I turned about and began walking off. However, something occurred to me as I was heading out. I stopped and turned around, walking back towards Priss.

"Something wrong?" Priss asked with a confused look on her face.

"Kind of," I said. "Which way is it to this city?"

Priss instantly chuckled to my question. I stared, not understanding why she was laughing.

"Forgive me," she said. "I just found that kind of funny. I don't really know how. But anyway, you might want to think about going North." She nodded her head in a particular direction. "You should be close to the city's leave by nightfall."

"O.K.," I said as I turned around again and began walking in the direction Priss showed me. "Thanks."

"Any time," Priss said. I was pretty much out of ear shot from her, but I managed to hear her say one little detail I forgot to ask. "Quil. When you arrive in Violet City, ask around for a Shuppet named Tess."

"Got it," I yelled back as I walked out of sight from her. It was hard to actually keep from being looked at. Frankly I was sick and tired of it already. For quite a while I walked, feeling like I was getting nowhere.

I stopped briefly to rest my paws from traveling. My nose smelled something wonderful. It smelled like something being cooked. The smell was coming from a nearby box looking thing. I blinked. Something wasn't adding up. This huge metal box-thing had the smell of food coming off it, yet there wasn't any food to be seen.

I noticed a human standing near the box on one side and a line of other humans on another. The one human was handing out, from the looks of it, a long brown thing. My mind registered a thought as food.

I slowly approached the food containing box and looked up at the human serving the food. He seemed quite busy giving all the food away to other humans. I tapped on his leg, getting his attention.

"Shoo," he said. Shoving me away with his foot. I was startled by this and tried again. "I said scram," the human said, shoving me a bit harder. The line of humans didn't bother to stop and care that I was hungry. They just took their food and walked away.

I walked around the mean human who shoved me and began rose on my feet, trying to find something to grab and climb. In that instant, I felt myself being lifted up, but went up too high for my liking. I felt something holding me by the scruff of my neck. I was then suddenly turned away from the food and thrown into something hard.

"Don't let me catch you trying to steal my food again," came the mean human's voice as I laid there, now thanks to a hurting back. I slowly got up, my back tensing up as a bit of pain shot through it.

"Ow!" I cried, rubbing it. My stomach growled hungrily. I sighed, sitting down to take a break. Life sure had it in for me. Everywhere I turned things just seemed to go wrong. I turned my head and looked as the humans happily walked off with all that good food they were getting. Just staring at it made me even more hungrier.

I was afraid to go back, though, incase that human did something even more meaner. I didn't feel like sticking around long, being that I had a mission to do. I got up, my back a bit better. I slowly walked away from the mean human and slowly trudged my way through the rest of the city.

After another long while of walking, the buildings ended at last. The sun was far on my right now, the air still too hot. But I was glad to know that I was now leaving the city, or so I thought. I walked on, leaving the big city behind me and ended up in a nice little field just outside.

I was glad to feel the soft grass under my feet again. I smiled at the touch. The sounds of honking behind me were a bit distant now that I was out. I continued walking, getting away from the city as fast as I could. My stomach growled hungrily.

Ahead of me was nothing but open field, except for a wide river before me. I stopped near the river, watching the water flow in one direction. The current was strong. I looked at the direction the river was flowing and found it leading back towards the city. Not wanting to go that way, I turned and began heading the other way in the direction the river was coming from.

I knew that wherever the river began, there would be some good food nearby to eat. Unfortunately, my foot gave way, causing me to slip and fall into the river. I yelled in surprise as I was dragged underneath the water.

I struggled to get to the surface, but the force of the current kept me from doing so. I felt all the air in my lungs leave me and my vision began fading. Just before blacking out, I saw a dark figure coming at me.


	11. Nightly Explorations

The sky was night the minute I opened my eyes. There were millions of unknown things shining bright, filling the nightly sky. The sound of rushing water filled my ears. I lifted my head some, tearing my gaze from the night sky. All around me was nothing but grass and water. It was peaceful too, just as peaceful as my forest.

I sat up, taking a better look at where I was. The area was beautiful, what with the untouched grass that swayed gently in the cool breeze blowing. The water was traveling down in one direction. I turned my head to the sound of rushing water and stared at the water falling down the side of a cliff. For once, I felt happy, like I was back home.

My stomach growled hungrily. I looked around, wondering where to find some food when I found a pile of red things in a small bunch next to a bunch of berries. I walked over to the food and picked one of the red things up. I sniffed it, trying to get a clue how it smelled. No odor came off it.

The food was hard and shiny. I opened my mouth and tried swallowing it, but the food was a bit too large for my mouth. I scratched my head, trying to figure out how to eat it. I tilted my head to one side and tried eating it sideways. I bit down and my teeth immediately sunk into the hard food.

The taste was juicy. I began slowly bringing my mouth out of it, the piece of food along with it until it was in my mouth. I began chewing. The taste was not only juicy, but had a sweet flavor to it. I swallowed after chewing and bit into it again, the yellow part much easier to bite off.

I hurriedly ate the new food and soon all that was left was a skinny middle while the top and bottom were untouched. Both sides were harder to eat, so I gave up on that, throwing the now eaten food away as I dug into a second one.

It wasn't until my fourth one did I stop eating. My belly was full and I went for some of the berries I was familiar with. Once I had enough of them, I walked over to the river, being more careful as to not to slip in like I did. I cupped my paws and dipped them in the water. I brought them out and gulped down the fresh, cold water, causing a shiver to go down my back. I backed away from the river some and sat again, looking around the clearing.

"Wait," I thought, realizing something I hadn't. "How did I get here?"

Memories came back all in one rush. I remembered Priss asking me to retrieve an item for her in a different city. I remembered how I tried getting something to eat and being thrown aside by a mean human. Then I remembered traveling outside the city and walking up to a river. I even remembered losing my footing and taking a tumble into the river and being swept away by the current before everything went black.

I looked at the direction the water was going in which it was going in the same direction as it had been earlier. I came to the realization that I was at the beginning of where the river began. How I got here was beyond me.

The sound of a small _plop_ suddenly got my attention. It came directly from the water. I knew this because I saw the water rippling. Something was down there. I backed up slowly, not knowing what to expect. From behind me, I heard rustling. I turned around, standing quite still. My body trembled, afraid of what might come out.

Sounds were suddenly starting to make itself known as rustling and rippling water filled the quietness. I felt fear coming, building up inside. My lower lip quivered, wanting to let out a whimper, showing that I was afraid.

The sounds stopped suddenly as they began. I slowly moved towards the red foods, grabbing two apples in each paw, ready to throw it at anything that may come out. My body tensed, hearing a faint whisper go around. Then, I felt something wet connect with my back.

The attack took me by surprise that I could do nothing but yelp in fright, even as I landed on the ground, the red foods now gone from my paws. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down my face. The shock of the attack scared me, plus I was wet and now very cold.

I got up, slowly, and sat down, trying to stop the tears, but the truth of the matter was: I was petrified and had no clue what was going on. My ears picked up the faintest sounds of snickering from what I could tell. I couldn't see a thing thanks to all these tears pouring out of my eyes.

My back was to the red foods. So, turning around, I grabbed one of them and threw it in a random direction, upset, embarrassed, and still shocked into fright. The food disappeared into the forest beyond me, but it must have made contact with something because there was a _thunk_, followed by a loud, "Ow!"

I heard hushing, but it was no use. I got up and hollered, "Come on out! I know you're there!"

Another voice whispered, one in irritation, before the rustling began again. From behind me, I heard the water sloshing. My paw slowly went for another red food, preparing to strike at whatever was coming out.

However, the food in my paw was shot out, leaving me defenseless. I could see the outline of figures slowly walking out from the forest. They seemed rather short, but not as short as me. Then again, my eyes could be playing tricks on me. I was too afraid to turn around and to afraid to move. So I did what I could and shut my eyes, hoping that when I opened them, everything would be still and quiet.

Apparently it worked, because seconds later, the noise stopped. I wanted to open my eyes, but fear prevented me from doing so. But if I never opened up my eyes, I would never be able to know where I walked.

Slowly I began opening them, my vision coming in clear. I must have had my head down because when my eyes were fully opened, I was staring at the ground. I took a deep breath and slowly began lifting my head.

As I raised my head, I noticed that there were a bunch of feet standing in front of me. Still raising my head, the feet went up to a body, and then the face. My eyes widened at the sight before me and I gasped, for standing before were nothing but a bunch of...


	12. Meeting the Quags

"I do hope you're all right," said a blue pokemon among all the others. All pokemon were the same species. They were round and tall with a flat tail. "We didn't mean to frighten you. We Quagsire are known for having fun. So if we frightened you at all, I hope you accept our deepest apologies."

I took a deep breath and exhaled a bit more calmly. I did have the feeling to snap at them for what they've done, but decided against it.

"It's fine," I said, wiping away the wet tears staining my face.

"But it's not," the Quag-thing said with a frown. "You're half scared out of your wit and have absolutely no idea where you are. We were in the wrong to do what we did." The other Quag things nodded in agreement.

"Well I forgive you," I said, trying to force a smile.

"Hmm," the Quag thing said, staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing," the Quag thing said. "It's just that I'm surprised that a pokemon of your size has enough power to lob that apple at one of my clan members."

I looked over at where the pile of red foods lied. So those things were called apples. I really liked them. I smiled, thinking of how I managed to hit one of the Quags with them. Just the mere thought of it made me giggle.

"Now that I think about it, it is kind of funny," I said, getting few of the other Quags to chuckle.

"That was quite a throw," one of the Quags said, rubbing his head. He must have been the one I hit. "I guess I did deserve that."

"Well enough of the apple throwing and straight onto business," the one Quag said whom I've been talking to. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Sire. And I am the leader of the Quagsire clan."

"Um, hi," I said. "I'm Quil."

"Very nice to met you, Quil," Sire said. "I'm glad that I was nearby when you fell in earlier."

My memories floated back to after I fell into the river. Now that I thought about it, I did remember seeing some sort of unknown being swimming at me.

"That was you?" I asked. Sire nodded. "I guess I owe you my thanks then."

"No thanks necessary," Sire said. "We end up saving little children who fall in every once in a while. The people in the city don't mind us at all. We normally show up every now and then in a blue moon."

"Huh?" I asked confused, scratching my head.

"Let me explain, Sire," another Quag said.

"Of course, Siren," sire said. I could hint that Siren was female from the way she talked. It was kind of an odd name, but a great name to suit a female nonetheless.

"Quil," Siren said. "Every now and then we Quagsire go into town to collect round objects during a Harvest Moon. We bring those round objects back up here and shoot them to the top of the waterfall. The round objects then float back down to the city where the humans await for them the very next day."

"So why do you bring those round objects up here to begin with if they're just going to be returned?" I asked, my head starting to hurt.

"Because the people believe that the last round object to float back to its owner will give that owner good luck," Siren replied.

"What kind of good luck?" I asked.

"Any kind, I guess," Siren said with a shrug.

"What if an object comes back last whose owner is a pokemon?" I asked.

"Then that pokemon will get good luck too," Siren said.

"Wish I had that kind of luck," I thought out loud.

"What would you do if you received good luck?" Siren asked.

"For one, I wouldn't be afraid of fire," I replied.

"You're afraid of fire?" Siren said, slightly surprised, to which I nodded my head as a yes.

"I've never met a fire type that's been afraid of fire before."

"That explains why his fire never erupted," Sire said.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Normally when Cyndaquils get scared, fire erupts from their back," Sire explained. "However, the entire time we were messing around with you, not once did any fire erupt."

"That's why I spent my last three years practicing to keep it from happening," I said.

"That's not a good thing to do, Quil," Sire said.

"But it hurts my back," I said.

"Then you're going to have to train to where it doesn't," Sire said. "It's never good to hold fire in for so long. If you don't let it all out, the result will be severe."

"How severe?" I asked worriedly.

"Don't you worry about that," Siren said suddenly. "What you need to do is find a fire type who can help you."

"But where do I go to find one?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Siren replied. "But while looking for one, I would practice a few fire attacks. I know you don't want to, but you must."

"But what happens if I don't?" I asked.

"I told you not to worry about that," Siren said. "But in the meantime, why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself?"

"I don't want to," I said. "It's been nothing but pain."

"What happened?" a Quag asked.

"Come on," another Quag said. "We want to hear."

I sighed heavily and said, "A group of mean humans destroyed my home forest and I'm the only one to escape from it."

All the Quags were silent, staring at me. Not one said a word for quiet a while. All they did was look at one another and whisper amongst each other. Finally, after a while of quietness, Sire finally spoke up.

"Quil," he said. "Out of curiosity, can you tell me how long ago that happened?"

"I think that happened just this morning," I said, in which Sire shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Quil," Sire said. "But that was a day ago."

"What?" I asked surprised. "I've slept through an entire day?"

"I'm sorry," Sire said. "One of the Quagsires reported seeing black smoke beyond the city yesterday."

"So then where were you?" I yelled, my feeling of anger bubbling inside. "My forest was under attack and on fire and all you could do was just sit here?"

"Try to understand, Quil," Sire said. "We did try coming. We really did. But by the time we would reach the forest, the humans would have already put it out."

"You could have come and rescued a lot more pokemon instead of one just escaping!" I yelled. The tears were now coming out. The Quags remained silent.

"Listen, Quil," Siren said, her voice gentle. "I truly wish there was something we could have done. But by the time we heard the news of the forest, it was too late. The humans from the city were there and there weren't many pokemon left."

I felt her suddenly wrap herself around me in a hug. She felt a bit slimy and slippery, but I stood there, letting the tears run down my face, my heart aching. I stayed in the position I was in for quiet a while, hurting. After a while, my eyes began getting drowsy. It wasn't a wonder why, being that it was night and I have probably been up for a while.

I shut my eyes as my vision blurred out. Next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.


	13. Mockery of Gus

"Quil!" I heard a voice speak my name. "Quil. Come on you sleepy head. Wake up."

I turned over grumbling, "Let me sleep."

"Quil, don't make me have to wake you," the voice warned. But of course, I went ahead and ignored the warning as I kept on sleeping. "Fine then. But I did warn you." A second went by where nothing happened. Then suddenly, I jerked awake as a cold blast of water hit my body.

I was definitely awake now. I jumped up and looked all around for the attacker. All I heard was laughter behind me. I turned around to see that one of the Quags were laughing.

"Oh man," he said. "I've never seen anyone move so fast like that before. You should have seen the look on your face. It was priceless!"

I glared at the Quag who disturbed my sleep and still laughed at me. Luckily for me, I was near the apples. There were still quite a number of them left. I quickly snatched one from the pile and lobbed it at the still laughing Quag. He didn't even see it coming until it got him in the face.

The Quag smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I deserved that one too," he said.

I sighed as I realized that this Quag was the one I hit with my first apple last night.

"You better have a good reason why you woke me up, Quag," I said annoyed.

"First off, my name's Gus, not Quag," the Quag said. "And the reason I woke you up is because it's a good day to go swimming."

"Is that all?" I asked in a flat voice.

"Come on," Gus said. "It will be fun."

"No that's okay," I said, looking away.

"Aw come on," Gus said. "Almost everyone loves to swim, except for rock and some fire types. But you can handle the water. So come on."

"I said I'm fine," I said, still looking away.

"Oh don't tell you don't know how to swim," Gus said.

I felt a blush creeping up on my face. I tried hiding it, but I couldn't stop it from showing.

"Quil, how are you ever going to make through life if you don't at least try things?" Gus asked. "Just about everybody in this world has to try everything just once in their life. If they don't, well, they become pathetic losers."

"Take that back," I snarled, my anger bursting free like that. If it was one thing I hated being called it was a loser. Gus himself seemed pretty shocked at my anger, but regained his attitude.

"Take that back," I said again.

"So there is some fight in you," Gus said. "I don't think I want to take it back."

"Take it back or I swear you'll regret it," I said threateningly.

"Oohh!" Gus mocked. "I'm so scared. Please don't hurt me little Cyndaquil." He pretended to cry as he pretended to wipe away a tear. "I didn't mean to call you such names."

"You have one last chance to take that back," I said. I felt something starting to feel alive on my back. But I didn't even bother caring. What I did care was wanting to make Gus pay for his mockery.

"Hah!" Gus said. "As if."

"Fine then," I said as I prepared to charge.

"What's going on over here?" someone suddenly asked. I stopped what I was doing and noticed Sire walking over.

"I was just trying to get Quil to come and swim," Gus said. "But he went off and started chewing my head off for no reason."

I glared at him angrily, really feeling like hurting him. Sire beat me to it first though with a good punch to the face.

"When are you going to start behaving yourself?" he yelled. "Honestly you cause more trouble than any other pokemon I know."

"You know I can't help who I am," Gus said. "I just have to be me."

"And that's what worries me a lot," Sire mumbled as Gus ran off towards the pond. Sire sighed irritably as he turned to me. "Don't worry about him. He always pick on weaker pokemon just to anger them."

"Well it definitely worked well," I said angrily.

"Don't let Gus spoil your day, Quil," Sire said. "One day he'll end up in that same situation. But in the mean time, I know that you can't swim."

"So what if I can't?" I snapped. "I'm just a loser who can't do anything."

"Calm down, Quil," Sire said. "I didn't mean any offense to that. I just said that because of how you struggled against the current when I came to save you."

"Sorry," I said a bit more calmer. I heard Sire mumble something, but it was too quiet for me to hear. "I guess I did let Gus get to me."

"Don't let him," Sire said. "If ends up bothering you again, come and get me. Don't confront him on your own."

"Got it," I said.

"So," Sire said. "You want to try swimming?"

"I don't know," I said, looking away again. "I'm too afraid to."

"Well the way I see things, the only way to confront your fear is to face them," Sire said. "Once you face your fears, you will no longer be afraid."

I looked up at him, a smile starting to creep up on me this time.

"So how about it?" Sire asked. "I'll even be your tutor on swimming."

"O.K.," I said as I followed Sire over to the pond.


	14. Basic Swimming

"Just out of curiosity, what did Gus do to make you angry?" Sire asked.

"He woke me up by splashing water at me," I mumbled. Sire sighed as I stopped by the pond's edge.

"O.K.," Sire said. "To start things off, I'm going to start you off with the basics of swimming. Why don't we try out floating on your back?"

"Floating on my back?" I asked. "That sounds a lot harder than it may look."

"Nonsense," Sire said. "All you do is quickly spin on your back and voila, you are floating." As he was explaining this, he was showing me as well. "So it isn't that hard. I'll even help you."

I was nervous as I slid carefully into the water. My paws refused to let go of the edge.

"Relax, Quil," Sire said as he swam by me on his back.

"Easy for you to say," I said as I quickly let go and tried floating on my back. At first I thought I was going to sink, but I found that I was really floating on my back. "I'm doing it!" I said. "I'm floating."

"Not just yet," Sire said. "Siren's helping you out at the moment. You have to spread out you arms and just relax your muscles."

I slowly spread out my arms and did just as Sire told me, relaxing my muscles.

"You ready?" Sire asked. I nodded.

Sire dove under water for a moment before resurfacing to watch me. I continued staying like that for a bit until I heard Sire say, "Good job, Quil. You've actually mastered it."

"I did?" I said surprised.

"Indeed you have," Sire said. I smiled as I floated. Next thing I knew, my whole body went under water, a pair of paws shoving me down. I squirmed in alarm, trying to break free to the surface. The paws suddenly released me as I swam to the surface.

"Damn it, Gus," I heard Sire yell as I reached the edge of the grass. I gasped for air and coughed a bit.

"You all right?" Siren asked me as she patted me on the back.

"I think so," I said, trying not to tear up in front of Siren, but failing miserably.

"Gus snuck up on us and plunged you under," Siren said. "He really is such a trouble maker. Be lucky Sire was there."

"I am," I said.

"But on a good note, you swam all by yourself to the edge," Siren said.

"I did?" I asked as I replayed the event. "Hey what do you know? I did swim. Sire was right. Swimming is easy."

Siren smiled as I let go and began sinking immediately. I quickly grasped fro the edge again and held tight as I pulled myself back up.

"You're supposed to move your feet if you want to stay in a section of the pond," Siren told me.

I began moving my feet before letting go of the edge. I felt myself float in the water as I continued moving my feet. The rest of my body seemed to not move. Not even my paws moved. It was a very exciting feeling.

"Very good," Siren said as she swam out a bit into the pond. "Now try come swimming towards me. Just lean forward and kick with your feet. And use your paws to thrust yourself forward."

I leaned forward just a tad bit as I began moving my immobile paws. I felt myself moving away from the edge and towards Siren. I picked up a little speed and got even faster as I swam all the way out to Siren.

"Good job," Siren said with a smile. "Now try swimming back."

The swim back was easy. Within minutes, I mastered swimming.

"Very well done," Sire said as he swam up. "I think I'm proud to say that you've mastered basic swimming. All except swimming on your back, but you'll get around to that eventually."

I took a look at Sire and noticed that his face was a bit bruised.

"What happened to your face?" I asked.

"Just got into a little scrap with Gus," Sire said. "Don't worry about a thing, Quil. This kind of thing always happens. I just wish Gus would behave better."

"So should I keep practicing my swimming?" I asked.

"You should," Siren replied. "You can play with the kits. Chasing them around should improve your swimming ability."

"But what if Gus comes at me again?" I asked.

"That's why I'll be keeping an eye out on you," Sire replied. "And Siren too."

I swam alongside Sire and Siren to the group of Quags who were busy jumping off from the waterfall and swimming around. Siren led me to where the kits were and I had a blast chasing them around in a game of tag. The day seemed to last forever, but I didn't mind. I got in my swimming lessons and eventually tuckered out as the sun began setting.

I reached the edge of the land and climbed out. I shook all the water off from as much as I could. My stomach growled hungrily. In all the excitement, I forgot to go and have lunch. But the good thing was that there were still a good pile of apples and berries left to eat.

After eating up, I lied down on the grass, exhausted. The Quags were starting to come out too, still making a racket, which hurt my ears a bit. I caught sight of Sire walking over towards me. But I didn't have a chance to do anything.

I was suddenly pounced upon by whom I thought was Gus at first, but then the tickling began, which indicated that the kits had ambushed me in a playful attack. I laughed, flailing my feet around wildly as the kits continued on.

Eventually they stopped. My laughter didn't stop immediately. I just kept on laughing, eventually calming down into a chuckle before sighing with relief.

"Did we get you good?" one of the kits asked.

"You got me," I replied chuckling.

"Come play with us some more," another kit said as I felt them all trying to drag me with them.

"Give Quil a break kids," Sire said, coming to my rescue. "He'll play with you later."

All the kids whined in disappointment as they walked away.

"Had fun?" Sire asked as he sat down.

"Helps take my mind off some things," I replied.

"Everyone needs to have something uplifting after a terrible incident," Sire said.

"Is it normal to have your heart burning afterwards?" I asked.

"I guess," Sire said with a shrug. "I haven't been through that kind of situation in my life. But in my guess, I'd say you're still hurting a bit that you're home is long gone. What do you plan to do now?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I'm supposed to be on my way to Violet City in favor of a friend I met in the Cherry City."

"Cherry Grove City," Sire corrected.

"Right," I said. "Cherry Grove."

"So I guess this means you'll be having to leave in the morning," Sire said, sounding disappointed. I was in the same state. I loved it here except for Gus' occasional annoyance. And the kits were fun to play with.

"Yeah," I said sadly. "I wish I could stay, but I can't go back on the favor."

"I understand," Sire said. "If you ever end up traveling this way, we'll always welcome you with open arms."

"Thanks," I said with a yawn.

"You'd best get some sleep," Sire said. "You're going to need it for a long journey tomorrow."

"O.K.," I said as I felt my eyes drooping. "Just keep Gus from waking me again."

"Oh I don't think he'll be bothering you tonight," Sire said, sounding quite happy.

I shut my eyes after that. Soon I drifted off to sleep.


	15. Farewells

The sky was still fairly dark when I awoke, but it did have some light starting to shed upon the area. The area itself was rather quiet. Not a sound was heard. Not even the pond was filled with the sounds of sloshing. I figured that all the Quags were still sleeping and laid my head back down.

But then the memory of Priss came into mind and the favor I had to do for her. I groaned, not really wanting to get up, but the sooner I left, the sooner I would be in this Violet City. I grunted as I rolled over and began pushing myself up. I was, however, pushed back down suddenly by a foot upon my back.

"Looks like I just found me a foot stool to rest upon," came Gus' voice.

I blinked in alarm and wildly looked around for Sire. He was nowhere to be found. Neither was Siren or any of the Quags for that matter. It was just Gus and I. I gulped, afraid of what he might do to me.

"Looks like Sire won't be coming to your rescue this time," Gus whispered in my ear. "Nor Siren for that matter. They and all the Quagsires left to find a new area. They won't be coming back."

"Th-That's not true," I said, trying not to believe it.

"Oh but it is," Gus said. "I volunteered to stay behind. And with no one around, I can do whatever I want."

I gulped and shook. I was petrified. If only I weren't afraid, I could possibly teach Gus a thing or two. The foot shoved me harder to the ground as my face met the grass and dirt. I made a muffled grunting sound. The force of his foot was beginning to hurt.

"Look at you," Gus said. "I want you to remember this moment, Cyndaquil. I want you to know how weak and pitiful you'll always be. You'll never be strong. I want you to remember how weak you were against me as I crushed every single bone in your body."

With the last few words he had spoken he added more pressure on me, making it harder for me to breath as my body began to flatten against the ground. The pressure kept on coming and my breathing became harder.

I was nearly out of air when Gus' foot suddenly came off. I immediately rose up and sat straight up as Gus fell to the ground.

"Damn it, Gus!" Sire screamed, hitting him to the ground. "You have no respect for others who are weaker than you. Do you have no shame?"

Gus just looked up at Sire and smirked. "Why don't you try taking a guess," he said with a smirk. Sire growled and kicked him in the stomach.

"Stay away from Quil," Sire growled threateningly.

"Or you'll do what?" Gus asked. "I just wanted to say my goodbyes to him privately. You won't have to worry about me treating him badly after he's gone."

"I'll be speaking to you once Quil leaves," Sire said.

"Why can't you say it now?" Gus asked.

"I'll say it when the time is right," was all Sire said as he turned around and led me away.

"You just wait," I heard Gus say. "Some day you'll come across a completely strong pokemon and meet your end."

I realized that it was me that he was referring to. I didn't really care what he said. I somehow knew that he was only trying to make me feel like I was useless, but still it somehow managed to get through for I winced.

Sire seemed to have noticed because he turned around and hurled something at Gus pretty hard. The object made contact with Gus and it must have been a lot harder than when I had thrown because Gus fell tot eh ground and clutched at his head, groaning.

"Come on, Quil," Sire said as he continued leading me away from the pond. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Remember the other day when you accidentally slipped into the river?" Sire asked me. I nodded. "Well I saved your life, Quil. And because of that, you owe me a great debt. One that only you can handle alone."

"What is it?" I asked again.

Sire glanced back for a second before returning his attention to me. "I really can't say," he replied. "If I do, you'll always be expecting it. I just want you to be careful when you leave is all I have to say. Try to avoid getting into fights as long as you can. And be as far away form here as you can."

"Why?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Like I said," Sire said, stopping at the edge of the forest. "I really can't say. Just be careful out there, Quil."

"I will," I replied with a bit of confusion on my face. I began walking off into the woods to continue my traveling when Sire suddenly stopped me.

"Hey Quil," he shouted.

I turned around to see what he wanted and there, in the pond, were all the Quags in a straight line. Some were a little distant from others. I blinked, not knowing what was going on.

"Before you leave, we want to give you a proper farewell," Sire said as he signaled the other Quags to do whatever it was they were supposed to do.

Some of the Quags began spouting out water from their mouth into the air while others spat out one strand of water. I stared in amazement as the water all spelled out something in the air. It spelled out something like this.

F-A-R-E-W-E-L-L Q-U-I-L!

I smiled and at the same time began tearing up, even as the water fell into the pond. It was a really special way to say goodbye.

"Thank you!" I yelled out to them.

"Good luck out there, Quil!" I heard Siren yell back. "We'll all miss you."

"Except Gus that is," Sire said.

I chuckled at that one and with a final wave, I turned towards the woods and began walking off for Violet City.


	16. Past Reflections pt 1

"Quil," I heard someone yell out my name. I turned around immediately, staring at the one who called me.

"Yes mom?" I asked, staring at the female Flaffy.

"What did you do with all the berries?" my mom asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked myself.

"The berries we collect every winter," my mom said. "What did you do with them?"

"I didn't do anything," I said defensively. "I never touched the berries."

"I saw him take them, mommy," a Mareep said, sniffing as she slowly walked up. "He even pushed me to the ground as he walked away and hid them."

"Maria!" I growled, sighing. I then realized that I was going to be blamed again, no matter what I said. Maria was always a trouble maker. And what was worse, she always managed to get herself out of it.

"Where did you hide them, Quil?" my mom asked.

"I didn't take them," I said.

"Quil," my mom said, rubbing her head. "I really don't like having these conversations with you. You were such a good kid until Maria came along. What happened to you?"

I was silent, unable to answer her. I took a glance towards Maria who already had a smirk spread across her smug face. My mom was impatiently tapping her foot, waiting for an answer.

"I don't mean to be bad," I said finally. "I just can't help myself."

"Well you're going to have to learn to be nicer to your sister," my mom said. " As well as behaving better. Now go and get the berries and bring them back."

"I would if I could," I said, knowing what was coming. "But I can't."

"Why not?" my mom asked, her eyes narrowing. I could even feel it coming. I glanced at my sister again who had a smug smile of victory all over her face.

"I ate them," I said, wincing as the yelling came.

"You ate them?" my mom said, totally ticked off. "Are you stupid? Do you know how long it took your father and I to collect those berries? The winter is almost here and berries are hard to find before then."

"I'm sorry," I said, depressingly.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it," my mom said. "It just puts more work on your father and I. He's going to be more ticked off than me when he finds out."

"When I find out what?" came my father's voice as he returned from his daily walk.

I felt myself shrink back even more as my father stepped into the clearing.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Ask your son," my mom said, pointing right at me.

"Quil," I heard my father say. I looked up at him, straight into his demanding eyes. "What did you do now?"

"I-I ate all the berries you and mom collected for the winter," I said meekly.

I knew what was coming next. I could see it in my father's eyes as they furrowed in anger.

"You what?" he asked silently in an angry whisper.

"I ate the berries you and mom collected," I replied again.

"How much?" my father asked.

I gulped in fear, too afraid to answer.

"How much, Quil?" my father asked, his voice raising.

"All of it," I answered him.

My father stared at me, his anger starting to show. I never liked it when he got angry. I always got punished, no matter what I did. My father took a deep breath to yell and then came the yelling.

--

My stomach growled suddenly, snapping me out of my trip down memory lane. The forest was a bit dim, and it made me worry that my eyesight would end up blurry again like it did when I left my home.

Time sure does fly when you're reflecting on the past so much. I haven't even realized that it was well around lunch time. I stopped, looking around for something to eat. There were some bushes nearby with a few different berries.

I smiled as I walked over and picked some of the good ones out, along with a totally new berry I never had before. This new berry was huge and red shaped. I couldn't tell what it was. I began eating the other berries, tasting the juiciness of the berries flow down my throat. My stomach began filling up as I ate.

I sighed as I replayed my memory over and over again. I could have told my mom that Maria had done something with the berries, but Maria was persuasive in her own way. She would only tell mom another story and she would believe it. But then I smiled, because I remembered the look on her face when Flare returned.

I finished up my small lunch, saving the new berry I picked for later as I continued walking and remembering.

--

My dad had finished his yelling at me and I was even more depressed than ever. I was in trouble, again, Maria had gotten away with whatever she did, and we were going to be without food all winter long. I could feel the tears welling up inside. It wouldn't have mattered if I cried. My parents were already upset with as they were.

"Guess I'm going to have to scrounge whatever's left out there," my dad said, turning to my mom.

"There's barely anything left," my mom said. "You'll be lucky enough to find something for all of us that will last the morning."

I curled up into a tight little ball, not wanting to uncurl anytime soon. I heard my father give a frustrated sigh. "I have to try at least," he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He turned and glared over at me as he began heading back out.

However, in that moment, Flare came running in yelling, "Mom! Dad! You'll never believe what I found."

"Not now, Flare," my mom said, rubbing her head again. "We're in the middle of a crisis."

"What happened?" Flare asked.

"Your brother ate all the berries we saved up for winter," my dad told him. "And it's going to be hard to find anything at all now that winter's upon us."

"I don't think you have to worry," Flare said. "I found us a whole bunch of berries."

"You have?" my father asked.

"Yeah," Flare replied, nodding his head. "They're all in a tree nearby. Come on, I'll show you."

Flare took off running, my dad following. My mom ran too, only she waited outside our clearing. I looked over at Maria whose eyes were wide with surprise. I smirked as she looked over at me.

"Guess you won't be having them all to yourself now, will you?" I said, causing her to glare. But she immediately regained her sweet composure as mom jumped back in.

"Quil," she said. "Go help your father and brother. They found a huge pile of berries."

I got up and went to assist, dragging the berries back carefully on a giant leaf. Once back in our clearing, the berries were placed back where they originally were. My parents were happy to have them back and began dividing them up for the winter.

Flare walked over to me and sat down. He glanced over at Maria, my gaze following his. Maria was off in the corner, sulking in self-pity. I smiled as Flare brought my attention to him.

"I caught her last night dragging the berries away," he said. "I knew you'd end up in trouble again, so I followed her."

"How did you manage to not get caught?" I asked.

"I have my ways," Flare said. "I'm your brother, Quil. I could care less if she blamed it all on me. But I have to keep you from getting into trouble. You're too nice a guy."

"Thanks for helping me," I said with a smile.

"What are brothers for?" Flare asked with a smile of his own.

--

I smiled at the memory of that incident a few months ago. It seemed like ages since that happened. And here it was, already in the summer season. Flare helped bail me out of trouble as much as he could whenever Maria targeted me with something big. There were a few times she targeted Flare to get him into trouble. Unfortunately, she gave up after the fifth time, realizing that Flare was going to be trouble.

Maria would have been turning two sometime during the next week. I like keeping track of birthdays, even my annoying sister's. That way, I would expect her acting becoming more better.

The air around me began cooling off just a bit as I walked on. The area was starting to grow darker. I knew that I would soon have to stop and find someplace to sleep for the night. Walking all day through a forest was tiring. Trees were always a good place to settle into. Because of my fur color, I easily blended in with the roots and dirt.

Luckily for me, I came across a very large tree surrounded by many others. The roots were huge enough for me to hide in between. The area soon grew black and all sight was lost. I couldn't see any of the trees anywhere. The only thing I did see were the roots I was in between.

I stayed quite still, daring not to move unless something was around. My stomach growled again, letting me know it was hungry. I still had the mysterious berry I picked earlier and took a bite out of it.

Immediately my whole mouth was set on fire. Tears immediately welled up and streamed down my face. The berry was entirely too hot to eat. The bad thing was that there was no water around.

I whimpered, trying to cool my mouth, but the burning was still there. My stomach growled again, demanding food. I would have gotten up, but there were strange noises in the forest. I stayed put where I was, afraid, hungry, and in pain.

The area only got darker than it had as the burning began to swell down a bit. My eyes began to droop for staying up so long. Finally, not being able to stay awake, I blacked out, though the darkness looked the same to me.


	17. Past Reflections pt 2

The growling of my stomach awoke me the next day. I immediately opened up my eyes and everything that happened last night came back to me. The reason being was that my mouth still felt like it was burning. I tried cooling my mouth off again, but that didn't help any.

I looked over to the direction I threw the berry last night after biting it and saw it lying several feet away. I looked at it as something came back to memory. It was when I was having pizza with Priss. The word Tomato Berry came into mind.

__

"It's not only hot, but spicy as well,"

were the words that played.

"So that's a Tomato Berry," I thought. "Priss was right about it being spicy. She forgot to mention that it burns your mouth as well."

I got up, shaking as much dirt off me as possible. My night wasn't very comfortable. It felt like sleeping on twigs. My back ached in pain a bit as I stretched. I winced at the pain as my stomach growled again. My life sure wasn't going great. Then again, since when has it ever?

I got a move on again, already wasting most of the morning getting up. Unfortunately, my pace was slow. I sighed as I walked on, watching other pokemon pass by whether they were playing, walking, or even eating.

I smiled as memories of my time with my friends came back to me. Next to everyone else I called my friends, Para, Bee, and Tai were the three I was somewhat close to.

--

I was leaning up against the tree, listening to the trio squabbling over stuff like Bee training his needles or Tai's foolish behavior of playing around too much. I, like always, remained silent and just listened in. That was one good thing I could do. Listen. I never had much to say because mainly there was nothing to say at all. My mind always had nothing to talk about unless it just had an idea pop in there. And that rarely ever happens.

"What do you think, Quil?" Bee asked suddenly.

"About what?" I asked.

"Weren't you listening?" Para asked.

"Uh, I guess I shut my ears off every now and then," I said. "Sorry. So what do I think about what?"

"About what would happen if someone you know just simply disappeared one day into thin air?" Tai asked.

"What you mean like getting caught by a human?" I asked.

"No," Tai said, shaking his head. "I mean just going for a walk and suddenly that someone just simply vanished the next time you turned around. You hear no scream, no yelling of fright, no nothing. They're just gone, like they never existed."

"Knock it off, Tai," Bee said annoyed. "You're scaring the children." By "children" he meant Para and I.

"Aw come on," Tai said. "You have to admit it would be an adventure to find out where they disappeared off to."

Bee only rolled his eyes while Para cringed. I felt myself shaking a bit in fright.

"Just out of curiosity, how did we end up on this subject?" Bee asked.

"I don't know," Tai replied. "One conversation leads to another and so on and so on and eventually the conversation just leads somewhere."

"Sometimes you make no sense at all," Bee said.

"Thank you," Tai replied cheerfully. "But I guess you have to be like me to understand that there's no sense at all of how I think."

"Huh?" I asked.

Tai only laughed while Bee shook his head.

"Hey guys," I said suddenly. "Where's Para?"

During our small conversation, we had failed to notice that Para had disappeared.

"You don't think she disappeared, do you?" Tai asked, looking excited.

"I don't believe in such things," Bee said.

"Just you wait," Tai said in a spooky voice. "You could be next."

"Please knock it off," Bee said, becoming a bit irritated.

"Depends on what you want me to knock off," Tai said. "Your head? You needles? Or how about your legs?"

Bee growled while I stifled a chuckle. But it wasn't because of Tai. It was the thing behind him which caught him way off guard. Something Tai took no notice of until it practically jumped on him.

"BOO!" Para yelled suddenly from behind Tai.

Tai's eyes went wide with fear and he shot up into the air like a rocket. I couldn't hold it in and fell on the ground, laughing. Para laughed along with me. I even heard Bee trying to laugh as well, but only got a few snickers out of him.

Tai crashed to the ground, a little dazed. "Wh-What happened?" he asked.

"I disappeared and reappeared," Para replied with a wide smile.

"That's one way of putting it," Bee said.

"I heard you snickering," I said to Bee.

"I do not snicker," Bee said, turning his head away.

"Then what was that huffing noise I heard?" I asked.

"I was annoyed," Bee replied.

"Aw come on," Para said. "Everyone has to laugh at something. Even you have to admit that was funny. He didn't even see it coming."

Bee rolled his eyes again. That really irritated me when he did that. It made me think that he was a stuck up snob.

--

I collapsed as the memories ceased. I was way too exhausted to continue moving. I huffed and sighed as my eyes tried drooping close again.

"Well this sucks," I thought. "At this rate I'll never get to Violet-" My thoughts were suddenly cut off as I lost all consciousness.

--

I woke up later to find the area already starting to get dark again.

"Aw man," I said out loud. "Don't tell me I wasted the whole day sleeping?"

I groaned in anger as I got up. I felt well rested, but my stomach was starving. Not to mention my muscles were sore. It felt like I was squashed by a Snorlax. That reminded me of the time a Snorlax traveled through our forest and ended up sleeping in the most peculiar spot. Namely right in front of my home.

It was Flare's biggest challenge ever. The Snorlax never woke up once, not even when Flare screamed right in his ear. Maria wasn't born yet when this event happened. It was three whole weeks until the Snorlax woke up.

My parents were both scared that he would attack them for the mysterious burns on him from Flare. But the strange thing was, there were no burns on him when he left. He looked the same the day he walked in.

Of course, Flare walked about the clearing weeks afterwards confused how a pokemon like Snorlax couldn't feel a thing and wake up with no burn marks on him. It sure was a riot for me to see Flare like that.

I stopped suddenly as my nose detected something. It wasn't a pleasant something either. The smell traveled down into my lungs and immediately I began having trouble breathing.

Pokemon were running past me, heading back the other way. I couldn't see too many of them because of the dark, but I did have a collision with one. I wasn't even paying attention as the pokemon ran into me. It just added more pain.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Run for your life!" the pokemon said as he began running. "It's a forest fire!"


	18. Fire Frenzy

**A real short chapter here.**

My eyes widened in fear by the shout of this. He did just say that there was a forest fire, didn't he? That would mean that I would have to make a run for it back towards the city I last came from, Cherry Grove. I turned and ran, the smell of smoke shortening my breath. It burned my nostrils. Just another thing to add to the misery I was feeling.

I looked back, trying to spot anything that resembled the orange glow of fire when suddenly I tripped. I felt my right foot twist as pain shot through me. I came in contact with the ground pretty hard.

I turned my body around and clutched my foot. I whimpered in pain as I rolled back and forth. The pain was excruciating. And the smell of smoke filling my lungs wasn't helping any. The tears were returning. I was scared and helpless.

I stayed put for what seemed to fell like forever, the smell of smoke getting worse. Then, I heard the crackling of fire. I knew this was bad. I had to get up and move on. I knew I was a fire type and that fire types absorb the fire, but I didn't like fire. I was afraid of it, afraid that it might incinerate me like it did to others.

I began getting up, placing my right foot down first. Bad idea. Pain shot through me and I cried, toppling back over.

"Help!" I cried out, hoping that someone would hear me. To no avails did anyone come.

I began sliding for the nearest tree to prop myself up against and think. My foot was aching horribly. I felt it hit something and twist while I was running, but I had no idea what it was.

I coughed, the smell of smoke worsening. I tried breathing, but barely any air was getting in.

"Crap," I muttered. "Things are just going from bad to worse. Why is all of this happening to me?"

I could hear the crackling of the fire from where I was and I knew I had to get out or be burned. Luckily there was a sturdy looking stick nearby. I leaned to grab it and immediately the pain rippled through me again.

I cried out even more as I wrapped my shaking paws around it. I got up, using my left foot for balance and supported my right leg, which barely touched the ground. I began moving slowly, trying my best not to upset my foot.

I heard a loud _crack_ from behind. I glanced back and saw the flickering orange glow of the fire. I was sort of relived that it was behind me, but I worried I wouldn't make it out in time. My nose was flaring and my eyes were burning now from the smoke. My throat was dry and I coughed again.

I continued to limp my way away from the fire, but the next time I turned around, I could see the flames a lot closer than I had expected. My heart began racing. I tried moving a bit faster, but that upset my foot again.

Tears were now streaming down my face and starting to dry up. I could feel heat on my back now. I began panicking and began hopping, keeping my right foot hoisted above the ground as I did so.

I could feel myself starting to sweat. The intense heat of the fire was the cause of that. I took a glance behind me and saw that the fire was very close this time. My eyes widened as I fell, agitating my foot again.

I cried out in pain once more. The area around me was lit by the fire. It was then I realized that in my attempts to outrun the fire, I had gotten myself completely lost. I couldn't tell which way I came from. This forest looked like the same one like my home, though the forest I lived in I was able to spot familiar landmarks to let me know which way I was going.

I heaved heavily, desperately trying to breathe in some fresh air, but all there was was smoke. My lungs burned every time I breathed. I coughed again, shutting my heavy eyelids. The crackling fire was the only thing I was able to hear as I began drifting out slowly.

I snapped open my eyes suddenly, realizing that falling asleep now would be a huge mistake. My eyes were a bit blurry from the lack of sleep I wanted. I could feel the blistering heat of the fire now. It felt like it was all around me.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes to get a clearer look. What I saw I didn't like. The fire had already caught up and was burning everything around me. The trees, the shrubs, everything. My lungs burned again and I coughed a lot more uncontrollably this time.

My dry, itch throat felt like it was finally cracking. I needed something to parch its thirst. Water or even juice from a berry would do. The taste of the Tomato Berry still lingered in my mouth

Again I tried to crawl, but hat only sent more pain coursing through my body, irritating my foot. I had no spit to swallow to even wet my dry throat just a bit. I fell limp to the ground, my body giving into exhaustion.

I watched as the deadly orange flames just continued to burn everything to ashes. The trees were weak enough to collapse and take someone out with it. I wanted to cry, but I had nothing left.

The fire, I noticed was now spreading around me, slowly closing itself in like a trap, and I was in the middle, surrounded by it. In no time I was exactly in that position. The fire had surrounded me and began to slowly advance on me.

I took in one deep breath, trying not to choke from the smoke and exhaled, watching as the fire came to put an end to me.


	19. The Fire's Source

I shut my eyes, waiting for the fire to end me, set me ablaze on fire and reduce me to nothing but ashes to be blown away in the after wind once everything died down. I felt the heat of the fire all around me now, licking its deadly flames around my body. I was afraid, but hoped it would all end in a matter of minutes.

But for some odd reason, the flames didn't feel that hot to me. In fact, it felt like I was at level with the heat. I struggled to open my eyes, the unbearable heat making it difficult to do so. With force, my eyes opened, glancing about the entire area.

I had to blink as sparks of fire flew past in front of me. I rubbed my eyes, the dry heat irritating them as the moisture dried out. The area around me, once dark and filled with huge trees, was now light with trees ablaze.

I heard the sound of a crack and I glanced up in time to see something very large land in front of me. This caused a flurry of fire sparks to fly everywhere, including at me. I made the mistake of panicking and rolling, which shot more pain up my body thanks to my foot.

I yelped and cried as I lied limp again. I was breathing rather heavily, the smoke badly burning my lungs. I felt like my heart was about to go out at any second. I slowly sat up, trying so hard as to not agitate my foot. Somehow, through luck, I managed to sit up right, my feet out in front of me.

I looked around the blazing forest, wondering which way to go. I did remember that the fire engulfed me from behind, so I would have to go in the direction the fire came from. Joy for me, especially when I had nothing to support my foot. The best thing I could do was slowly crawl my way out, but that would take a long while to do so.

I sighed, knowing that I didn't have any other option. So I slowly turned onto my stomach, trying to keep my aching foot in the air without trying to agitate it much, to which it was.

With a deep breath, I quickly turned over, gently placing my foot back on the ground. Again the pain was excruciating. At least I was facing the way I had wanted to go. Using my paws, I began dragging myself forward, dragging my broken foot behind, unable to move it, let alone twitch it.

There were times I had to stop to pant and others to avoid being killed instantly by burning limbs falling from the trees. The night seemed to drag on forever as I continued to slowly drag myself forward, my body just wanting to collapse and never get up again.

However, my determination to live seemed to keep me from dropping dead. I felt my heart pound with that kind of determination and it strengthened me to keep on going. I heard the sounds of limbs cracking and dropping down upon the ground and felt the sparks of fire spray outwards as they fell.

Once, a tree actually fell down an inch from my face. I was scorched a bit by the sparks of fire and I yelped, letting my body fall to the ground as I clutched my face in pain. The burns were excruciating and I rolled around, keeping my broken foot in the air as I did so.

The pain stopped eventually, but I could feel that my eyes were beginning to puff out just a bit, almost like they were swelling. It made seeing just a bit difficult for me, but I was still somehow able to see.

The burning tree was still lying in front of me, slowly turning to ash. It would take a while for it to be completely diminished, and I didn't feel like staying here for that long. So keeping my foot in the air, I slowly rolled to my left, making my way to one end of the tree.

I stopped once the burning tree no longer lay in front of me and I resumed my dragging. My muscles were worn and aching. I was utterly exhausted and more than that, thirsty. Forever seemed to go by as I went on, not stopping once for a rest.

The more I went on, however, the more I noticed that the flames were starting to die down some. I took this to be a sign that I was nearing the edge of the forest. It was in that moment suddenly that I began hearing noises.

I stopped and listened, straining to hear the sound. I couldn't tell what it was exactly, so I began dragging myself closer to the sound, it getting louder and louder as I drew nearer.

Then, suddenly, I stopped, for I saw something fly past several feet away. I slowed myself down some, not wanting to get in the way if whatever it was that was going on.

"Had enough yet?" I heard someone ask.

I couldn't hear anything else, just the sounds again that I heard. A lot more slowly than I was going, I made my way to the area I saw the thing fly past at, stopping several inches from it, also near a dried up shrub.

I squinted my eyes to get a good look at the figures that were running around and realized that they were in a battle. I wasn't even sure if they knew that the forest was on fire, but I remained where I was and watched, waiting to see what would happen next.

I watched as one of the beings suddenly slammed into the other, sending it flying back in the opposite direction I had seen it fly by the first time. It skidded to a stop several feet away from me and instantly realized what it was.

I was looking straight at a huge bug with a very large horn on its head. I was looking at none other than a Heracross. I noticed that the Heracross had major burn wounds on him. He struggled to get up, his body shaking. He fell down once, but got back up quickly. From the looks of things, he seemed like he was ready to collapse any moment due to exhaustion.

"Damn," I heard him muttered. "I've never met a pokemon as strong as him before."

I turned my head, seeing the other pokemon walking towards the Heracross. The pokemon, as I saw as it came into view, was an orange turtle with a glowing shell on its back. I never saw this kind of species of pokemon before, but from the looks of things, I could tell that it was a fire type.

"Admit defeat, Heracross," the fire type said. "And I'll make your death as quick as possible."

"I'll never stop fighting," the Heracross said. "I am the protector of this forest, keeping troublemakers like you out from it."

"Then so be it," the fire type said. "Your death will now be slow and agonizing. You would only wish to have died quickly with lesser pain than I'm about to inflict on you."

"Damn Torkoal," the Heracross said.

The name got stuck in my head as I watched the two argue at each other. This was the first time ever to see one up this close. From all the fighting the Heracross was doing against him, it dawned on me that this Torkoal might have been the one to start the forest fire, and all he might have been trying to do was pass on through until he got into a fight with the Heracross.

I looked around the forest, seeing the damage done to it and wondered if the two even realized that the place was on fire. I knew I was in a worse condition than the Heracross, but if they hadn't realized that the forest was set ablaze, I should at least let them know that. I couldn't just leave the forest to be burned down, though it may have been already too late.

I began scooting forward towards the Torkoal who was sucking in a deep breath. The Heracross must have seen me nearing the Torkoa, because I heard his confused reaction.

"What the-!?" he said.

I stopped and stared at him before staring at the Torkoal who turned his head towards me and unleashed a stream of fire at me.


	20. Getting Out

I really didn't have the energy to dodge the oncoming Flame Thrower directed at me. Even if I did I wouldn't be able to move fast enough because of my foot. So my only option was to just lie there, awaiting the stream of fire to turn me to nothing but ash. However, in that moment, my vision was blocked off.

I knew that I wasn't unconscious. If I was, I wouldn't be able to see the orange glow of the fire bouncing off whatever it was that was in front of me. I really couldn't see. Just this thing in front of me.

Then, I heard someone ask, "Are you all right? I'm so sorry!"

"Yeah, sure you are," another voice said, though this one appeared to be coming right above me.

The thing in front of me moved, allowing me to see again. Apparently, the Heracross had somehow got in front of me and took the attack, for when he turned about to face me, I noticed that his front side had some serious major burns.

"Hey this little guy doesn't seem to be looking so well," the Heracross said to the Torkoal. "He looks like he's been through torture."

I wanted to laugh, somehow finding that totally ironic about what he had said. But my voice wasn't responding. My throat was burning and caused me to cough silently. I looked back up at the Heracross who stared at me in confusion and raised eyebrows before he heard a crack and looked around the forest.

He must have finally realized that the forest was on fire, for his eyes were wide with surprise.

"Oh!" he said, sounding surprised. "The forest!"

"Huh!?" the Torkoal said, also looking around and gasping. "Did I do all this?"

"Well you're the only fire type aside from this guy," the Heracross said. "So yeah, you did. But it's also my fault as well. I was the one to pick a fight with you."

"So then we're both equally guilty then," the Torkoal said.

"Yeah," the Heracross said sadly. "What should we do? The forest is already destroyed. So putting it out wouldn't matter anymore."

"Well what about all the other pokemon?" the Torkoal asked. "There may be some still trapped."

Good idea," the Heracross said. "Let's go."

"Hold up," the Torkoal said as the Heracross began heading into the woods. "What about the Cyndaquil?"

"Oh!" the Heracross said. "I almost forgot about him. I'll take him the city and find some help. Help any other pokemon who are trapped."

"Don't take too long," the Torkoal said.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," the Heracross said.

I felt myself being picked up and held in the Heracross' arms before feeling the rush of air beating against my face. I barely knew what was going on, for I blacked out.

--

I felt fresh air enter my lungs as I began to regain consciousness. Everything was still dark, but that was only because my eyes were still shut. With a deep breath, I slowly opened them, instantly meeting a blinding, bright light in my face.

My head was beginning to hurt and I instantly shut my eyes. The pain was now coming to me the more I woke. I wish now I was still asleep. I groaned, raising my paws to my eyes and rubbing the sleep out of them.

I heard something creak and froze, wondering what was going on.

"Oh good, you're awake," someone said.

"Wh-Who's there?" I asked worriedly, my dry throat feeling a bit itchy.

"There's no need to worry," the voice said. "You're in perfectly good hands."

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"Calm down now, little one," the voice said soothingly. "I am Nurse Chansey and you are in the Violet City Pokemon Center."

"Violet City?" I asked.

"That's right," the so-called nurse said. "You've been out of it for a while now."

"How did I end up in Violet City?" I asked.

"Some Heracross brought you in," the nurse said. "And you were in a really bad state from how you looked."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well you had eaten a Tomato berry from the burn on your lips," the nurse said. "There was smoke in your lungs, your right foot is fractured, your eyes are swollen and puffy, and you had multiple other injuries."

"Oh," I said. Now that I thought about it, I did kind of feel my foot feeling a little funny. If only this blinding light was shining in my eyes I would probably be able to see better.

"Why does my head hurt so much?" I said aloud.

"My guess is due to all the smoke you inhaled," Nurse Chansey replied. "Smoke can do that to others."

"Oh," I said again.

"Then again, it could possibly be caused because of the number of days you slept," Nurse Chansey said. "In which case you've slept for two days."

I sighed to myself, not really surprised that I slept for that long. After all, I just seemed to be wasting so many days of my life away.

"This light is bothering me," I said after a while of silence, except for the usual noise made by Nurse Chansey. "I can't even open my eyes."

"Well you won't be needing to see until tomorrow," Nurse Chansey said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because I'm giving you a sedative to help you sleep better," Nurse Chansey replied. "Your headache should be gone tomorrow when you wake up, but you will be sore still. But on the bright side, you should be able to see a bit more clearly."

"O.K.," I said, shrugging my shoulders, which caused my muscles to ache.

I then felt something wet on my arm, rubbing around. Then, I felt a very sharp pain enter my arm. I groaned in pain, my itchy throat feeling more swollen than my eyes. The sharp thing was pulled out as suddenly as it was put in and almost immediately I felt myself starting to get drowsy.

"Nighty night," was all I heard Nurse Chansey say before I drifted off to sleep again.


	21. Preparation for

Finally another chapter up. I've just been having writer's block with this story. But I'm nearing the end with my other story. So I'll have plenty of more time with this story. So enjoy.

I woke up again, feeling like I haven't woken up in ages. To be honest, I felt great. The headache I had was gone, but the dry, itchy throat was still there as well as the funny feeling I had on my foot. It was fairly dark wherever it was I was.

I tried sitting up, but my muscles refused to obey. So I took it a lot slower, eventually coming up to a full sit up. I breathed in and felt my throat become irritated by the fresh air I was breathing in.

I coughed and that only made my throat swollen even more. It hurt. I carefully raised my paws to my eyes and felt the skin around my eyes puffed out a bit. But true to some words I remember hearing, I was able to see a bit more clearly.

The area around me was dark. I really couldn't see that far. Only up to my feet, my right foot having a strange unknown object on it. I leaned over just a bit, ignoring the aching muscles, and rubbed on it.

The object felt smooth, yet a bit bumpy. I stopped, feeling no pain coming from my foot. This thing must be covering it to prevent the pain from becoming agitated again. I sat back then, the thing on my leg making me a bit uncomfortable. Come to think of it, the more I did think about it, the more I could feel my leg begin to itch.

I had the greatest desire to actually rip this thing off and scratch my foot. But by doing so, I would probably irritate the pain again. So I was at a loss. I turned my head as something began opening.

Walking in through the swinging object was a large, pink pokemon wearing a white hat on its head with short, pink hair styled out. Across her stomach appeared to be a pouch, for there seemed to be a large stone in it. I stared blankly at the pokemon as she stared right back, smiling.

"Good morning," she said, her voice sounding awfully familiar.

"Uh, hi," I said, wincing as I felt my throat throb.

"Goodness," the creature said. "You sound terrible."

In all honesty, I felt terrible too. I bet if I looked at myself in a reflection, I would look like a total mess. But my body seemed to be fine, well besides the foot. Only my muscles were aching and my throat was throbbing. And I felt my eyes puffed out.

"Don't try to talk much," the creature said. "You've been through a lot."

That was a laugh right there. Kind of ironic too. She just hasn't known how much I've actually been through. I rubbed my throat, trying to find a way to actually speak without having to hurt my throat further.

I shut my eyes and nearly jumped out of my skin as the darkness was suddenly replaced with lights.

"Oh I'm sorry," the creature said. "I guess I should have warned you that I was turning on the lights."

It was then I finally remembered just where I had heard the voice before. I was talking to none other than Nurse Chansey from yesterday. The itch returned to my foot and I slowly slid my paw down to the mysterious thing that was covering my foot.

Somehow, I found an opening and began to slide my aw in when something hard whacked it. I recoiled my mow stinging hand and held it with my uninjured paw and gave a small whimper.

"Scratching your foot wouldn't be a wise idea," Nurse Chansey said. "Especially a fractured foot."

I tried speaking out as best I could, but with each word I spoke, my throat swelled within me again.

"What... you... mean... fractured?" I could only ask.

"What I mean is that it is broken," Nurse Chansey said. "Walking on it, touching it, or mainly even tapping it will cause excruciating pain for you. So the best thing recommended for you is an operation to try and align the bone back together."

My heart leapt to my throat as my eyes shot open. No way was I going to go through with this operation. If they were cutting my foot open to fix my bone, then forget it. I'd rather walk around like I am now than have my foot cut open.

"How soon?" I croaked.

"In about an hour," Nurse Chansey replied. "You'll be sedated, so you won't feel a thing. I'll be back within the hour."

Nurse Chansey then walked out, shutting the big thing behind her. This was my opportunity to find an escape route. I looked wildly about for a way out. The only way that seemed to be my only means of escape was through that large swinging object Nurse Chansey came through. But in doing so, he would immediately be captured and placed back in the room.

"Guess I'm just going to have to go through with it then," he thought, sighing softly.

He continued to sit where he was, listening to all the noises that were coming form behind the swinging object. Forever seemed to be moving by real fast, or maybe too slow. He couldn't tell. He didn't even know how long it had been since Nurse Chansey left. A rolling sound passed by and disappeared all too quickly, freezing Quil up for a moment, thinking that it was already time. But he sighed in relief as the noise disappeared.

He fidgeted every so often, nervous of the long wait. Have they forgotten about him so suddenly? Or were they busy preparing whatever it was they were preparing? Perhaps they had other patients to deal with that they couldn't come back. Or perhaps something bigger was happening. He didn't know what.

He kept on continuing to think of positive thoughts that would leave him here for the remainder of his life. But he failed to remain in that state, just knowing that any time now, Nurse Chansey would return and cut his foot open to fix his bone.

Quil sighed again and fidgeted nervously. He looked around the room again, mainly observing what it looked like this time. But then, he finally caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Above a very tall climbing object was a big, square thing in the wall. I stared at it and listened as I heard something blow through it, sort of like wind. I grinned, finally finding my escape route as I began to find my way to freedom.


	22. Vent Escaping

Only two more chapters before Quil finally gets back to the task he was assigned to. And I know it's been forever. So just bare with me and survive another two. In the mean time, enjoy this chapter!

Freedom seemed so close, yet I hadn't realized how far it was. I didn't even remember how I even got in where I am now. All I knew was that I was in this completely confusing, closed space air box, crawling around aimlessly with no idea which way I was going. I didn't even know which way was out. I had hoped that I would just crawl right on through and end up outside. But things just went downhill as I ended up in this air box.

I stopped at a certain point and tried thinking of which way I wanted to go. Three directions. Left, right, or straight? I decided to pick left and continued to crawl. The wind blew all around, so I was unable to find the exit a lot sooner than I had hoped.

I eventually crawled to this metal see-through thing, the same square object that I had opened up to crawl into this place in the first place. I looked down to see Nurse Chansey and several other nurses running around frantically. I grinned, knowing exactly who they were looking for.

"Did you find him?" a nurse asked another.

"Not yet," the other nurse said. "It's impossible. That Cyndaquil couldn't have just disappeared. There weren't any windows for him to climb out from. And even if there were, he wouldn't be able to get very far what with that cast on his foot."

I glanced back at the thing that was covering my foot that looked like a big, white foot itself. So this thing was called a cast. I turned my attention back to the see-through square object to find that the nurses were already gone. So, I carefully climbed over the see-through thing, afraid that if I stood upon it, it would swing open and I would fall.

I was careful to gently lower the cast down once I was completely over. I huffed heavily. The wind was making it a bit difficult to breathe. And then there was the swelling throat. Just about everything about me spelled disaster.

Unfortunately, as I went to move, I somehow lost my footing and I collapsed, making a sort of banging noise. I then heard someone say, "What was that?"

A moment of silence went by before someone else yelled, "He's in the vents!"

I immediately got up and began crawling a bit faster. It was only a matter of time before they came in after me. And there was no way I was going to have my foot cut open and be operated on. I was already in enough pain.

"Come on!" someone yelled. "Find a vent and go after him."

Now I was really panicking. I stopped at another three way decision and went straight this time. I was now in a race to escape the dreaded place I was in and the nurses that were coming to get me. I made a left, being that was the only way this air box went and came upon a dead end.

I turned around and went back, this time heading to the right I should have went, only now it was on my left. That got me thinking that if you went straight when you should have went right, then you turned around and went to the left that was right, then what was that called when one went right that was now your left?

Wow that really hurt my brain. I decided to push that aside to think about later as I too yet another left and saw an opening up ahead.

"I think I heard something," I heard someone said. "I think it came from over here."

That was fast. They were already in the air box. I hurriedly crawled towards the opening, my heart pounding a mile a minute. Freedom was just in front of me. Or so I thought. I stopped right in front what I thought was freedom.

O.K. Here's how it is. I could actually see the outside now, just barely. There were only two problems to getting out into it. One, there was a bigger see-through object in front of me. And two, there was something just as big as it that was spinning around and around. So even if I did manage to break the big square see-through open, there was the matter of the spinning object behind it.

I hung my head low, knowing that escape was impossible. Perhaps I should just go back and accept my fate. I just seemed to do so well in getting myself captured by just about everything that moved.

I slowly turned around and began making my way back to the area I was sitting in before I made a plan of escape. Of course, I was probably going to end up running into one of the nurses searching the vents. And so to speak, one came running around the corner, screeching to a halt as he spotted me.

This nurse was only a pup. His fur was gray as well as his bushy tail. But his muzzle was black.

"There you are," he barked. "You've caused us quite some trouble. Now march right back to the room."

I nodded my head as I went towards him. Suddenly, he disappeared from sight. At first, I thought he fell through the air box. But then I realized that it was in reverse. I was the one who fell through, not realizing that I was sitting upon one of those see-through objects. All I could feel was wind passing me by as I fell.

I expected to land on the cold, hard ground below me. But instead, I landed on something soft and warm. The good part about it was, my foot was uninjured. Only my upper part of the body was. It was a bit of a soft crash landing, but it still hurt.

I immediately rolled over and looked up to see a huge yellow pokemon with black stripes and two antennas on his head running towards me. I somehow could tell that he was a lightning type from the way his antennas sparked.

"I see him!" he yelled. "I got him!"

He suddenly tripped and fell against the thing I landed on. The next thing I knew, I was moving, only I wasn't really walking or crawling. The object I was on seemed to be traveling fast. I just watched as the electric type became distant from me, his face an expression of pain, shock, and disappointment.

I heard several screams as the thing continued to travel. I watched as several pokemon passed me by, all looking at me in surprise. I supposed it wasn't everyday they saw a fast moving Cyndaquil escaping like this. One of them actually did something about it, though, as he began running after me.

"Stop that Cyndaquil!" he yelled.

Something told me to look behind me and it's a good thing I did. I saw the outside coming up fast as the object I was on moved towards it. Only problem was that there was glass blocking my way.

There were one of two options I could do. One, I could jump off and let the thing crash into the wall and possibly through the glass. But by doing so, I would cause more pain to myself, not to mention being captured immediately. The second would be to just ride it out and hope I make it alive.

I took the second option, being that I was practically in front of the glass now. I decided to grab something and it just so happened to be really big and somewhat soft. I swung it around to protect me from further damage as the object I was on stopped immediately, crashing and rising up.

The force of the impact caused me to fly off the object and right through the glass. The good thing about it was that I had the comfy soft thing in front of me. So that took most of the damage rather than me. I screamed as I began falling again. My life was just filled with this kind of danger.

I shut my eyes and braced myself, expecting the hard ground to collide with me once again, adding more pain to what I already had. But it never came. I never felt myself land. So I figured that I might be stuck in mid-air somehow and I didn't know if I should risk a peek or not.

I decided on it anyway and opened one eye, looking around. I was definitely on the ground, but what surprised me was that I didn't even feel it. Then I remembered that I grabbed that soft comfy thing from inside and realized that it must have absorbed all the damage. It was pretty big and soft. I smiled, not even feeling the pain as I landed. I hugged it tightly as a thank you for saving me. So I guess there was an upside to everything I've been through so far. It was the longest while since I smiled. I eventually let go of the comfy thing and looked around, wondering what to do next.

Suddenly, I felt myself being picked up roughly by the scruff of my neck. I was turned about and stared into the angry face of a girl with bright orange hair. I looked down to see she was dressed in a white dress and a skirt. I looked up and realized that the hat she wore was exactly like Nurse Chansey's.

"Uh oh," I thought.

"You are in a heap of big trouble, young one," she said angrily.

"So much for escaping," I thought as I was carried right back into the area I was in before.


	23. An Operation

I knew I was in trouble. I didn't mean to cause much. Then again, I should have thought about these consequences before I took action. That's what my father always told us. But I guess panic overtook me and made me do the most stupidest thing I could have ever done. And here I was now, lying in a dimly lit area with cluttering and talking all about.

My heart was racing, pounding furiously in fright. I really wasn't ready for this operation to be done. There had to be another way to fix my broken foot. But I knew there wasn't. I was going to sleep through the entire operation and wake up to an even more pained foot.

My mind began to drift suddenly as I thought about the fire that destroyed my home and the humans dressed in black that attacked all the wild pokemon in the forest. Memories of my family and friends flashed through my mind. I wondered whatever happened to all of them.

I remembered how scared I was, running form the Scyther that meant to hurt me. Luckily for me, I tripped and fell and the Scyther ran right into a tree. Now that I think about it, for some odd reason, I found it really funny. I don't know why. I just smiled at the thought.

But then I thought back to running right back into my home to find Flare, Maria, and my mother all gone. The place was deserted and ruined. They all had been captured by the humans. My father was off elsewhere defending the forest. He had no idea of the tragedy that was going on at home.

And then my friends Para, Bee, and Tai all risked their lives for my escape. Some friend I was, not sticking with them and protecting my home. But what could I have done? I'm only a weak, helpless Cyndaquil who's practically afraid of almost everything. I was actually quite surprised that I even made it this far from home.

In fact, I couldn't even remember why I had traveled here in the first place. I searched through what I've been through to see why I was in this city at this precise moment. I fast forwarded through my struggle towards the first city after my escape. I remember meeting Priss the Misdreavus and having my eye sight returned.

Then I recalled the mission Priss wished for me to handle. I was to find a friend of hers who was guarding something that had something to do with ghosts. But her name escaped my mind. What I do remember was that it began with a T. Tim? No, that wasn't it. Tick? No, not that either.

I kept my eyes shut as I tried recalling the event. It was quite hard to remember after surviving a forest fire and getting in trouble for trying to escape a place of pain. But enough about that. I had that mission I had to do for Priss. So right after this, I had to go and find Priss' friend and retrieve the unknown object.

I jerked open my eyes as I felt something wet rubbing against my arm. I turned my head to the right and found that one of the nurses was rubbing said wet thing upon my arm.

"All right," the nurse said. "Time to get that foot of yours fixed up."

My heart began beating fast, frightfully watching as some sort of long, thin needle was picked up and inched towards my arm. This definitely wasn't going to be pleasant. I felt like having a fit, but that would cause even more trouble for me. But I really wouldn't be able to help it. I was quite scared.

Just as the needle made contact with my arm, however, someone suddenly yelled, "Hey everyone! I'm back!"

Cue the whole room going silent as everyone looked up towards the direction the voice came from.

"What?" the voice asked.

"Oh nothing," I heard one of the nurses say. "It's just that we were just about to begin a procedure with this Cyndaquil when you came busting in and yelling your fool hardy head off."

"Well, um, excuse me," the newcomer said. "Forgive me if, um, I wanted to, um, say hi to everyone. After all, I have been gone for an entire, um, month."

"And we're so happy to have you back," the same nurse said.

"Nurse Ark!" yelled Nurse Chansey. "Where are your manners?"

"Right outside," Nurse Ark replied. "I'm very serious when it comes to operating on a patient."

"Speaking of patients, um, who would this be?" I heard the newcomer asked.

"None of your concern, Um," Nurse Ark said rudely.

"I'm part of this hospital as much as you are, Ekans," I heard the newcomer, Um, say.

"It's Ark to you," Nurse Ark hissed.

"Could you two do this later?" I heard another nurse say, though a bit softly. "We really need to help this patient here and standing around talking isn't what we're really supposed to be doing."

"Nurse El is right," Nurse Chansey said. "We should be working upon this Cyndaquil."

"Could I take a look?" Um asked. "I mean could I, um, help. I'd like to get a chance to operate on a patient, being that I'm, um, back and all."

A frustrated sigh was heard, followed by several moments of silence before an answer was made.

"Oh all right," said Nurse Ark. "I suppose we could."

"Thank you!" Um said.

I remained lying in my position, daring not to move. Suddenly, by my feet, at first I saw nothing, but then I saw a pair of red eyes gleaming at me. My heart began to pound again, thinking that this was some sort of demon coming to do more damage than healing it.

I stared wide-eyed at the red eyed pokemon, wondering what was going to happen when he suddenly turned away. It was then I saw yellow rings glowing upon a black creature, one I've never seen before.

I watched him with curiosity now, wondering what kind of pokemon this was. I haven't seen many pokemon within my home. So this was sort of a new experience to me. The pokemon stood in one spot and began reading out loud.

"Swollen throat, puffed eyes, burnt mouth, fractured right foot, smoke in lungs, and some other injuries," he said. "Mostly cuts and bruises and some burnt flesh." He then turned his attention to the other nurses. "I see you did the job of getting the smoke out."

"We just sucked it all up to clean the lungs and give it fresh air," Nurse El said. "And we were about to operate upon his foot."

"I see," Um said. "Let me feel."

I watched as Um walked over to me and stood on his hind legs. His paws touched my foot, yet no pain came. It felt like the cast was still on, but it really wasn't. In fact, I couldn't even feel his paws.

"Easy to fix," Um said. "You might want to give him something to bite down with. It's going to be quite painful and the last thing we want is to go deaf."

"And we were so hoping to avoid this kind of procedure," Nurse Ark said.

"It's easy," Um said. "I put the bone back into place and then I just use my healing abilities and, um, mend the fractured bone back together. It'll be like he never had a, um, fractured foot to begin with."

"And what of his other injuries?" Nurse Chansey asked.

"All the cuts, burns, and bruises will automatically, um, heal," Um replied. "His eyes will, um take a few days to settle back to normal and, um, if I'm lucky enough, his burnt mouth should, um, cool, I think. But I'll have to see what happens."

"All right," another nurse said, this one I recognized as the small gray pup I countered in the air box earlier. "You heard Um. Let's get this operation over and done with quickly."

All the nurses began walking around and gathering things up. Nurse Chansey walked up to me and pushed me back down gently upon the bed.

"Save your energy," she said. "And don't panic. Everything will be done like that. You may feel a little pain, but rest assure we'll work as fast as possible."

As she said this, I felt something being placed into my mouth. My arms were suddenly tied down to what I was lying on. I really wasn't liking what was going on. It made panic slowly start crawling out again.

I looked down at my feet to see Um standing there, his front paws on my fractured foot. He looked up at me and noticed my expression.

"There's nothing to, um, worry about," he said. "Your foot should be better in, um, three seconds. One, two-"

Suddenly, with a loud, sickening _crack_, I felt the bone move right back into place. The pain immediately shot through me. I screamed loudly at the top of my lungs, though I felt it muffled by the thing in my mouth. I thrashed about, unable to move due to me being stuck, tied down.

The pain was too much for me to handle. I would have rather faced the forest fire rather than deal with the pain. But suddenly, as soon as the pain came, it faded. It was like the pain never existed. Not only that, but I felt all my aching muscles and the injuries and burns heal up.

My swollen throat also seemed to be recovering as well. My mouth was starting to lose most of the burn from the Tomato Berry I ate. I felt like I was a new Cyndaquil again. A warm tingling feeling washed over me and I breathed in deep, laughing as I let all the air out.

"I can talk again!" I said, smiling. "I never felt my voice so clear."

All around me, clapping was heard and nice things were said about Um. I felt my arms were able to move again and I used them to sit up. I looked around at all the nurses who were smiling as well that I was healed. It felt great.

I hopped off whatever I was lying on and landed on my feet. I expected pain to shoot through me again and cause me to redo the whole thing, but it felt as good as new. Almost like it was never fractured in the first place.

"How do you feel?" asked Nurse Chansey.

"I feel wonderful!" I replied, smiling widely. "Thank you."

"Don't thank us," Nurse Chansey said. "Thank Nurse Um for doing it all. He used Wish to heal you immediately."

I turned to Um and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Nurse Um."

"You're quite, um, welcome," Um said. "And the nurse part isn't necessary."

"I guess I owe you for helping me now," I said.

"Nonsense," Um said. "It's what we nurses do. We expect nothing in return. Now come. I think you've had enough time being inside here. Let's get out to where it's much lighter."

"O.K.," I said, following him.

I thanked all the nurses once again as I walked behind Um and soon was back out in bright light and warm weather.


	24. Eon Explanation

**Last chapter before Quil goes on his way again. Enjoy and review!**

"It feels so good to be out!" I said as I let a warm breeze pass by me. It felt good. And the warmth of the sunlight made me feel even better.

"I bet it does," I heard Um say.

I opened my eyes and studied him once more. I couldn't tell what he looked like. He appeared to be some sort of dog or something. It was hard to tell. He was completely black. He had red eyes and yellow circles all over his body. His ears were long as well as his tail. And he walked on all four legs of course.

Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to ask.

"What are you exactly?"

Um looked quite surprised that I even asked this question. I felt guilty for even bothering to ask.

"You mean you've never heard of an, um, Eon before?" he asked.

"Never," I replied with a shake of my head.

"You're the first I've ever come across that, um, didn't know about an, um, Eon," Um said.

"What is an Eon?" I asked.

"Eons are, um, well, I'm an Eon," Um replied. "I'm an Umbreon."

"Umbreon?" I repeated in question.

Um nodded.

"I've never seen someone of your type before," I said. "What are you some sort of normal type gone wrong?"

"Oh boy," Um said. "I guess I better explain this stuff to you. But I'd rather not bore you if you have somewhere else to be."

I thought for a moment about the task I was assigned. Priss' friend was already probably worried that I didn't show. I did spend quite a number of days without showing up. I hope that they didn't think I was lost.

Though I did have to go and complete my first task, I was quite interested in knowing about Eons. I knew it would delay me further, but I was interested in knowing about Eons.

"Well," I said. "I really do have to be somewhere. But I want to know about Eons first."

"All right," Um said. "I'll try to make this as short as, um, possible. Now where to start off?"

"How about what you evolve into?" I suggested.

"I don't evolve any further," Um replied. "This is one of my many evolutions."

"So you have more?" I asked leaning in, intrigued.

"As my, um, pre-evolved form," Um replied. "Before I became an Umbreon, I was, um, an Eevee. A cross combination between a fox and a, um, rabbit, I suppose you could say. Eevee normally have brown fur with a bit of white fluff in certain areas."

I tried to imagine what an Eevee would look like, but somehow, it appeared to have come out weird.

"Eevee normally had, um, three evolutions," Um went on. "But two new regions brought two new evolutions each, totaling seven evolutions completely."

"Seven!" I gasped, amazed. "I never heard of a pokemon that could evolve seven times!"

Um smacked a paw up to his head and shook it, sighing. I felt really stupid then for saying such a thing.

"O.K.," Um said. "Let me try to explain this to you in more, um, detail. As an Eevee, we can only evolve once in our entire life. After that, we can't evolve anymore. But on the, um, cool side, we anxiously wonder what we will evolve into. It all depends where you are and, um, the timing you wish for."

"So how does an Eevee evolve?" I asked.

"Um, well, Eevee normally evolve with the help of, um, certain elemental stones," Um said. "For instance, coming in contact with a blue stone called a, um, Water Stone will, um, cause an Eevee to evolve into a, um, mermaid type pokemon called Vaporeon."

"And that's a water type?" I asked.

"Correct," Um said. "A yellow stone called the Lightning Stone will, um, evolve an Eevee into an electric type with needles called Jolteon. N orange stone called the Fire Stone evolves an Eevee into a, um, Flareon, a fire type. And a green stone known as the Leaf Stone evolves an Eevee into a Leafeon."

"A grass type," I said.

"Right," Um said. "But as for the last three evolutions, two of which I know completely. One I don't. I'm one of the two I know how to evolve. I evolved during a full moon one night, instantly becoming an, um, Umbreon. I'm a psychic type and a dark type. My opposite, a complete psychic type kitten known as, um Espeon-"

"Evolves during the day," I finished.

"Very good," Um said. "And of course, the last one is an ice type named Glaceon. I'm not too terribly familiar how Eevees become Glaceons. I think they have to live in the, um, snow to evolve."

"Wow!" I said as Um finished. "That's pretty cool."

"It is," Um said.

"So what's it like being an Umbreon?" I asked.

"It's pretty cool actually," Um said. "You don't get affected by psychic types. To be honest, a dark type such as myself is, um, very hard to take down. We aren't affected that badly by even the most, um, powerful moves."

"I'd think I'd like to be an Umbreon myself," I said. "If I were an Eevee, that is."

"Don't go rushing into things like that," Um said. "You might have wanted to explore your options before evolving. There might have been a chance that you wanted to be something different."

"Possibly so," I said. "Just one more question."

"Yes?"

"How did you come up with the name Um?" I asked.

Um blinked in surprise and immediately began stuttering for words.

"Well, I um. It's really quite simple, um. I really can't, um explain how I want to, um, put this," he said.

I just stared blankly at him as he continued to figure out how to explain it to me.

"Never mind," I said after a few minutes. "I think I know."

"Oh," said Um. "Well, um, I suppose you'll be heading back off into the wild or something. Maybe see your family."

"I don't know what happened to them," I said. "Long story short, my home caught on fire and humans were capturing pokemon. So I ended up here on a task."

"What sort of task?" Um asked.

"I'm looking for this pokemon," I said.

"That narrows it down," Um said.

"Well, I really can't remember too much about it," I said. "But I remember that it began with a T."

"Well there are a lot of pokemon who start with the letter T," Um said. "Like, um, Tim, Tabitha, Tess, Tyler

"Wait!" I yelled. "Go back to that last one."

"Tyler?" Um asked.

"The one before that," I said.

"Tess?"

"That's her," I said. "I'm looking for Tess."

"So I see," Um said. "You see that huge building way over there?"

I turned around and looked straight ahead to a building that was higher than any other building I have ever seen.

"I do," I replied.

"That's where Tess is," Um said. "She lives there, is what I, um, mean."

"Thanks for your help," I said as I began walking towards the large building.

"Hey!" I heard Um yell at me. I turned and looked back "I, um, didn't catch your name."

"It's Quil," I answered him.

"Well then, I hope you come back and visit, Quil!" Um said.

"One day I might," I said as I continued heading to find Tess at long last.


	25. The Search

I looked up at the high building in front of me and gazed at it. I couldn't believe that I was here after so much has happened to me. From burning forests to human buildings, wasting so many days just to get to a single place. But here I was in Violet City, ready to complete the task Priss had sent me out to do.

I returned my attention to the opening in front of me and cautiously walked in, looking around with interest. The inside was completely empty and very quiet. I felt the warm breeze against my back, blowing inward and making my insides tingle. I was warm.

I noticed that in the middle of the room was a large object that was swaying back and forth. I cocked my head to one side and watched it as it swayed. It was mesmerizing to watch and soon, I somehow ended up swaying in rhythm with it, feeling my body shift back and forth.

I was forever lost in amongst the swaying when suddenly I jerked too far right and was spun around immediately, coming face to face with a purple rat. I blinked and staggered back some, feeling a little dazed.

"You all right there?" the rat asked.

I studied him over and realized that it was a Rattata I was speaking to. I scratched my head because it was itching before I finally said something.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were all right," the Rattata said.

"I think I am," I replied. "I'm feeling a little dazed though."

The Rattata chuckled and said, "That can happen if you stare at it too long. The trick is not to even look at it."

"But how can you not look at it?" I asked. "It's just so mesmerizing."

"It takes a couple of times to avoid direct eye contact," the Rattata said. "And being that I haven't seen your face around here before, I must ask what it is you're doing in the city."

"Well it's a very long story," I replied, feeling my heart aching again. "And it's something I don't wish to keep telling to others."

"Then don't," the Rattata said. "I don't like hearing sad back stories. I just want to know the here and now. So again I ask, what brings you to the city?"

"I'm just here on a task," I replied.

"A task, eh?" the Rattata said. "What kind of task?"

"I'm looking for someone by the name of Tess," I answered the Rattata. "She's supposed to have an item to give me. I was told that she lives here."

"Well I don't know anyone by the name of Tess," the Rattata said. "I mean I'm normally down here scurrying all about searching for dropped food and stuff. But perhaps this Tess person is higher up."

"I guess so," I said. "Well, thanks for your help. I really have to go."

"Say wait," the Rattata said. "Maybe I could help you."

"Help me?" I asked.

"Sure," the Rattata said. "I mean, I few work together, we'll be able to find this Tess person a lot faster. Besides, I've always wanted to always know what's up there."

"Well, alright," I said after some thinking. "Besides, I'll need someone around to keep myself from being mesmerized from that swaying thing."

The Rattata laughed and said, "This is true. So let's go."

I followed the Rattata through a smaller opening to some familiar steps I've seen before and began following the Rattata up. By the time I had reached the final top, I was completely tired.

"I take it you never climbed stairs before," the Rattata said.

I glanced up and noticed that the Rattata had stopped to stare at me, looking a bit concerned. My last experience with these kind of steps was from the opposite end, and the trip down wasn't pleasant.

"Not up anyway," I answered him.

"Going down may seem easy, but dangerous if you don't watch your step," the Rattata said. "You ready to go on yet?"

"I think so," I said, feeling a bit of my strength recovering.

"Then let's move," the Rattata said. "And don't look right unless you want to end up swaying like a flower in the wind."

I had a clue to what he was talking about, but was surprised the swaying thing was up here with us too.

"How far does that thing go?" I asked.

"All the way up to the top," the Rattata said. "The support column sways back and forth to keep the building balanced."

"But if it sways back and forth, then shouldn't the building fall?" I asked, confused.

"That is one of the greatest mysteries in life that will never be explained," the Rattata said as we climbed another flight of stairs. "At least not to a lot of people who don't understand the structure of how the building was created or for what purpose the column sways."

I completely lost him, his words not reaching me for my head began hurting due to all the talking he was giving out. I sat down at the top and rested a bit, the Rattata doing a quick search of the area and spotting a weird looking plant that was swaying back and forth along with the swaying thing.

The Rattata walked up to the plant and went to shake it out of the trance it was in when suddenly, the plant turned its head towards the Rattata and said. "Hello!"

The Rattata flinched in surprise at the reaction and I just cocked my head to one side, confused again.

"You're not entranced by that column?" the Rattata asked.

"Not really," the plant said. "This is how I normally move."

"Right," the Rattata said weirdly. "So I'm here with my friend looking for a pokemon by the name of Tess."

The plant continued to sway back and forth, starting to really hurt my eyes upon staring for so long. I couldn't wait until I was out from this place. It was too much swaying for me to handle. Then, the Bellsprout spoke.

"She's at the very top of this building," it said. "Probably about two or three more floors up."

"Great," the Rattata said unhappily. "I always wanted to climb a long flight of stairs to the top. Just what I wanted to do today. Thanks for your help."

"Anytime," the plant said as I followed the Rattata to another flight of the stairs.

"I'm sorry I'm having to drag you all the way up," I said apologetically to the Rattata.

"It's cool," the Rattata said. "Don't be bothered by my attitude. I always get bored too fast and then I just want to go off and do something else. It's my curse."

"O.K.," I panted as I slumped down to the ground.

"Don't quit now," the Rattata said. "Just another floor or two and we'll be at the top."

About two more flight of steps later, we were finally at the top. I was utterly exhausted by the time we reached the top, so I just flopped down and didn't bother moving.

"You look like you've just been beaten in a battle," the Rattata said.

"It's odd," I said. "I've ran through forests and cities and yet I'm completely wiped out when it comes to climbing," I said.

"Isn't that ironic?" the Rattata asked, causing me to laugh. "So according to that Bellsprout three floors down, this Tess person should be up here somewhere."

"Is it always this empty in here?" I asked.

"I don't know," the Rattata said. "This is my first time up here. I wouldn't have a clue."

"Normally there are several pokemon walking or floating around, going from floor to floor, but they've mostly all cleared out," another voice said.

I looked up as a purple pokemon appeared out of thin air. It looked like it had a horn on its head and had a weird looking body. It looked at the both of us, floating in midair.

"I couldn't help but overhear that you're looking for Tess," the pokemon said.

"I am," I said. "I'm Quil. A ghost pokemon named Priss sent me to find her."

"Oh!" the pokemon said surprised. "So you're the Cyndaquil I thought would never come."

"Then that means you're Tess," I said.

"The one and only," the now known pokemon, Tess, said. "You're late. I thought for sure you stood me up, but I somehow knew there was a reason for such a delay. You must have been caught in that forest fore two days ago."

"I was," I said. "Then I ended up being treated on and here I am."

"Well you are here and that's all I need to know to be satisfied," Tess said. "Of course, I'm sorry you had to go through a horrible ordeal, but at least it all came out well in the end."

"It did, actually," I said. "So, Priss says you have an item you want to give me?"

"Of course," Tess said. "This way."

"Mind if I stick around a bit?" the Rattata asked.

"Don't mind at all," Tess said.

"Great!" the Rattata said with a smile this time as the two of us followed after Tess.


	26. The Silph Scope

The Rattata and I followed Tess right around the swaying thing that mesmerized me when I first came in. Walking around the swaying thing, I watched Tess float right up to some sort of object resting upon some sort of table or something and lifted up a round dome that the object was in.

The object then rose into the air by some unknown force and floated right on down to me. I held out my paws and let it drop in my hands before I studied it. The object was long and round and easy to roll as I let it roll down my arms.

I grabbed it with my paws and turned it over to the side that was a lot larger than the other. It had a huge hole in the middle with glass covering it, showing my reflection. I turned it over to the smaller side where there was a very tiny hole. It was tiny enough for the Rattata's paw to fit through possibly.

Speaking of the Rattata, he looked at the thing in my paws and asked, "That's it? That's the item he came to get? It's just a useless telescope."

Tess glared at the Rattata and flew straight into his face. The Rattata flinched as she stopped before him and angrily said, "It is much more than just a useless telescope. If the wrong people get heir hands on this, it spells doom for all ghost pokemon all over the world."

The Rattata gulped as I glanced down at the telescope.

"Is it really that important?" I asked her.

"Indeed it is," Tess answered, turning to me. "I'll give you an example."

She then disappeared into thin air as I glanced up at her. I looked wildly about, wondering if she left me here. Then, she spoke out of seemingly everywhere.

"Now place the small side of the telescope up to your eye," she said.

I blinked in alarm as I spun wildly about.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm in the same spot I've been in," Tess said. "Just place the telescope to your eye."

I stopped moving and fumbled with the telescope until I had it the right way I wanted it to be. I then lifted the small end up to my eye and pressed hard. Looking through, everything looked exactly the same. The color was the same and so was the inside of the building.

I slowly moved the scope about. Everything seemed a lot larger from the other end. I stopped upon the Rattata who was looking a bit guilty for what he said. A little bit above him was Tess, staring right at me through the scope. I was confused to why I could see her now. Perhaps she reappeared and it was all a prank.

I slightly moved the scope to the side, staring right up at the spot where Tess floated. Only, she wasn't there. I moved the scope back to my eye and immediately Tess was seeable again.

"Wow!" I said. "This thing really can see ghosts."

"I told you," Tess said.

"Let me see," the Rattata said as he walked over to me.

I handed him the scope and he had a bit more difficulty than I getting it to his eye. He ended up having to sit on his back feet and use his front paws to direct the scope. He aimed the scope right for the spot where Tess was supposed to be and gasped in surprise.

"Holy Mew!" he said, looking away from the telescope and looking up at the empty space I was staring at before returning his gaze through the scope.

Tess chuckled as she reappeared and took the scope from the Rattata, returning it to me.

"I would have gave it right back," he said.

"You looked pretty surprised to even move," Tess said, smirking.

"So," I said, interrupting their conversation. "Exactly what do you want me to do with this?"

"Oh, right," Tess said, remembering why she gave it to me in the first place. "I want you to take the Silph Scope to its owner."

"Silph Scope?" I asked.

"That might be the name of the ghost seeing telescope," the Rattata said.

"It is," Tess said, rolling her eyes. "Made in Saffron City in the Kanto Region. The owner is president of the company the Silph Scope was made in."

Words were going in my head, but not much were coming out. My head was hurting again. All I knew now was that the owner of the scope I was holding belonged to some sort of president in a city. Everything else was lost.

"So I have to deliver this to the owner?" I asked.

"Yes," Tess said with a nod.

"And what city am I going to again?"

"Saffron City," Tess repeated. "That's all the way over in the Kanto Region. A long walk from here, but there is a faster way to get there. I don't suppose you ever heard of Golden Rod City, have you?"

"Not ever," I replied.

"Well, it's due west of here," Tess said. "Once there, look around for a train. I've heard that the train takes you all the way to Saffron in a matter of minutes. It saves you many days of walking."

"What does a train look like?" I asked.

"Big, metal, fast moving," Tess said. "It can hold a lot of people. It should be recognizable."

"And how will I know when I arrive there?" I asked.

"Just ask random pokemon," Tess said. "Most of them should know where Golden Rod is."

"O.K.," I said. "Tess, thanks for your help."

"No problem," Tess said with a smile.

"I guess I owe you one?" I asked.

"Owe me?" Tess said, thinking of something. "You know, Priss did mention to me some things about you. Don't be going around owing everybody because sometimes owing people can lead you to dangers that you know you shouldn't do. So don't go owing everyone just because you're doing one person or pokemon a favor. I don't owe you anything. Just make sure you get that to Saffron City safely without running into any Rockets."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

"Well you should get that thing to Saffron," the Rattata said. "Don't want any Rockets coming up to get it."

"I'll help you guys," Tess said. "I'll save you the trouble of walking down those long flight of steps and just teleport you out."

I went to go ask what she meant by that, but the Rattata interrupted me before I could ask.

"Why can't you just teleport us to Saffron yourself?" he asked. "In fact, why didn't you just teleport that thing to Saffron directly?"

"Because my teleportation is kind of short ranged," Tess said. "I'd only be able to take you as far as the border of Violet City."

"Oh," the Rattata said before sniffing the air. "Does somebody smell something burning?"

"You wouldn't have accidentally set something on fire with your back, have you?" Tess asked me.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I'm afraid of fire. I don't even like using it."

The Rattata looked at me wide eye in surprise. Tess just stared blankly at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're afraid of fire?" the Rattata asked.

"Since I was born," I said. "I just don't like the idea of using it."

"Well that's ironic," the Rattata said. "A fire type afraid of it's own fire."

"Ironic indeed," Tess said. "You're the first fire type ever that I have met that is afraid to use fire attacks. That's not a good thing to do. You need fire for defense. If you get yourself in trouble, using your attack is the only thing that will be able to save you."

"But I'm scared to actually use any fire attack," I said. "I wish I wasn't."

"Well," Tess said. "I think I might know of someone who could help you overcome your fear."

"Really?" I asked. "Who?"

As Tess went to answer my question, I was suddenly tackled by the Rattata who yelled, "Look out!"

Nothing happened at first, but then, a split second ago where I stood, a stream of fire shot out right from the floor. The attack went on for several seconds before ceasing. I could hear shouting coming from somewhere below, but wasn't sure what floor exactly it was on.

I was still a bit shaken that the stream of fire shot out from right where I was standing.

"You alright?" the Rattata asked me, helping me get up.

"Thanks to you," I said. "Thanks."

"What in Celebi's name was that?" the Rattata asked, turning to Tess for an answer.

Tess was looking through the hole in the floor, a look of surprise upon her face.

"Tess," I said, getting her to look at me. "What's happening?"

"We're under attack," Tess answered me. "The Rockets are coming."


	27. Escaping the Tower

Well this story seems to be back up and running again. I do have to say I missed Quil a lot. I have big plans for him and me not writing about him anymore is just, I don't really know what to call it. Anyway, Quil's back. Now I know some of the previous chapters dragged on forever, but I've become a better writer since then, or at least that's what I'm told.

If there are any chapters that should be considered being redone, please PM me and I'll try to make them better. And starting hopefully now, I'll do what I can to make these chapters better. So, please R & R and let me know what ya'll think. Thanks!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Fear began to overtake me upon the words Tess spoke. Flashbacks of the people dressed in black with the red R's on their shirts quickly popped into my mind. The word Rocket stuck in my mind. So these black clothed people were known as Rockets who hurt pokemon. And they were responsible for the attack on my home. If fear hadn't been gripping me at the moment, I wouldn't know what I would have done. However, I was snapped back into reality by the Rattata's voice.

"Rockets?" he asked confused. "You mean the kind that you light up and watch explode in the air?"

"Not those kind!" Tess yelled. "Team Rocket, an evil organization of people who capture and steal pokemon from around the world. And I bet that they're here for the Silph Scope."

So then what are we supposed to do?" the Rattata asked worriedly. "They'll be up here any second."

"Not to worry," Tess said. "I'll hold them off while you guys get out of here."

"But-" the Rattata began to say, but was cut off by Tess.

"Don't worry about me," Tess said with a smile. "I'll be all right. The main thing to worry about is that Silph Scope. Hope to see you two again." With that said, Tess floated on down the stairs.

"So, what do we do?" I asked after several seconds of silence.

"What do you think?" the Rattata asked. "We have to get out of here with that scope thing without having these Rocket people taking it from us?"

"Yeah but wha if-"I began, but was cut off by the Rattata.

"If there was ever a time to escape, now would be it," he said, grabbing my paw and heading for the stairs in a panic run. We reached the edge and were about to run down it when the Rattata pushed me back, a blackish purplish ball zooming right where we stood a second ago.

I looked up as a large, gray, four legged creature came up from below, a look of determination in his eyes. I gripped the Silph Scope a little more tightly as he stared down upon me, his eyes on what he wanted. "Give me that scope," he growled, causing me to flinch.

"Y-Yeah?" the Rattata said, obviously scared. "And wh-what would someone like you n-need it for?"

"That's none of your concern, Rattata," the pokemon growled again. "I've just been sent orders to retreive that scope. And you will hand it over to me. Now for the last time, hand that scope over and I will allow you to escape with your lives."

I stared at the pokemon before us, staring into his determined eyes to obtain what he came after. I then looked down at the scope I held, my mind racing to figure a way out of the situation we were in. I could either give this pokemon the scope and doom all ghost pokemon, which would leave me feeling guilty for doing something like that, or die from the pokemon's sharp teeth and powerful attacks. Why couldn't I be more like Flare? However, as my mind finally made a decision, a third idea popped into my head. I really don't know how it popped in there, all I knew is that if I didn't act quickly, one of the other two options would happen.

"All right," I said in defeat. "You win. I don't want to die."

"Wise choice," the pokemon said. "Now give me that scope and I'll leave you runts to be."

"But I don't want the scope to be used in the wrong way," I continued. "So if you want it, you're going ot have to retrieve it." With that, I turned about and threw the scope toward the hole the stream of fire made.

"No!" the pokemon screamed, chasing after it. I watched, as time slowed down, the scope flipping about through the air toward its target. My heart was pounding heard against my chest, ready to burst if the scope would miss. The scope hit the floor, some ways from the hole as the pokemon leapt at it just as the scope rolled right toward the hole, the pokemon slamming a paw right on the smaller part of the scope while the bigger part was already tipped down into the hole.

The pokemon sighed with relief. Doing so must have caused him to lose his grip on the scope, for it fell right through the floor. I took the opportunity to grab the Rattata's paw and run down the stairs. We just managed to reach the bottom and turn when the same blackish purplish ball flew right into the wall behind us, the shockwave knocking us off our feet.

I quickly managed to recover first, getting back onto my feet as I saw the pokemon leap down toward us. I jumped back out of the way as the pokemon landed right where I had been moments ago. And the moment he did land, he was engulfed by a stream of fire from the left. It was then I took notice of my surroundings and saw that the entire place was on fire.

Why was it everywhere I seem to have gone, I always ended up in a place that had fire blazing around? First my home was put on fire by the Rockets, then the forest I walked through to get here was caught on fire by a fire turtle, and now I'm stuck in this tower. And guess what? It was on fire too. Whoa! Where'd that burst of attitude come from?

"Come on!" the Rattata said, grabbing me by the paw, snapping me out of my thoughts. "They're off guard at the moment. We've got to get out!"

I turned my attention back to the pokemon that was after us to see that he was on the ground, his fur looking quite singed. Several feet away from him was a black dog with white things upon his body, his mouth open and his eyes wide with surprise.

I rounded my head back to attention as we reached the stairs and was about to run down with the Rattata when something caught my eye. There, lying not too far from the black dog, was the scope I threw. I yanked my paw out from the Rattata's grasp and ran for it. I heard the Rattata's pleads for me to come back, but I was determined to get the scope back, despite how scared I was at the moment.

When I felt like I was in range, I dove for the scope. However, as I did, I felt more intense heat engulf me. But nevertheless, I managed to grab the scope, my entire body shaking from the fear. However, a paw smashed down on one of my paws, causing me to grimace in pain.

"You're going to pay for what you made me to do my friend," came a very angry voice. I looked up, opening an eye to see the black pup looking down at me with a very angry expression upon his face. He opened up his mouth and was about to release the stream of fire on me when he was tackled by the Rattata, his paw lifting up off mine.

"Get up!" the Rattata said, helping to lift me up. However, my attention was turned toward the black pup as he ran at the Rattata, leaping up into the air and coming down on him. Before he could smash down on the Rattata, I did something that even surprised me. I gripped the Silph Scope tightly in my paw, raised it in the air, and whacked the black pup as hard as I could in the face.

I was completely shocked at what I just did as the black pup fell to the ground. My mind was racing a mile a minute, knowing that escaping was our only hope of getting out of this mess. I grabbed the Rattata's paw again and ran for the stairs, running down them. Luckily we didn't encounter any pokemon along the way this time, nor the next floor.

However, as we reached the next floor, another black pup flew right into the wall. And I mean into the wall. I stopped and looked ahead, seeing nothing but the familiar black clothed humans with the red R's on their shirts. There weren't that many, maybe five or six at the most from what I counted. They all had pokemon out fighting with the pokemon that must have belonged to the other humans who were dressed in brown.

"They're blocking our exit," the Rattata said. "How are we going to get through that without them seeing us?"

"You can leave that to me," a familiar voice replied. Both the Rattata and I looked up to see Tess floating there. "Glad to see you boys made it this far."

"Tess!" the Rattata cried. "The tower! It's on fire!"

"Really?" Tess said, not sounding all that surprised. "I couldn't tell."

"You said you could get us past them?" I asked, desperately wanting to get out.

"Of course," Tess said with a wink. "Just close your eyes and think of the outside and you'll be there before you know it."

I did as Tess told me and closed my eyes, thinking of standing outside of the tower. I felt a strange, tingling feeling pass through my body. The sound of fire all around suddenly disappeared and the heat I felt instantly cooled. I felt something soft beneath my feet and something cooling sweep past me.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was no longer in the tower, but outside of it. In my hands I held the Silph Scope and right beside me was the Rattata that had accompanied me. We were both outside, away from all the danger. I sighed with relief as I sat down, feeling some of the burns get agitated by the grass as I did so.

"She must have teleported us out," the Rattata said. "But where exactly did she send us to?" I watched as he looked around, trying to figure our destination when he looked up and stopped, his head looking in that certain direction. Having a feeling at what he was looking at, I turned around as well and looked into the air to see black smoke rising up above the trees.

"She must not have teleported us too far," the Rattata said. "After all, she did say her teleportation was short-ranged. So she must have been able to get us away from the tower."

"So, what do we do now?" I asked, continuing to stare up at the smoke.

"I say we let the humans deal with the problem now," the Rattata said. "There's nothing more we can do."

I continued staring up at the smoke, something running through my mind. What of the pokemon on the upper floors? What if they got burned alive up there? I would never be able to feel right if I didn't do anything. And Tess. After all she had done for us, was I really about to just leave her to the demise of her burning home? And why were all these thoughts running through my head?

"But what about Tess?" I asked the Rattata.

"I'm sure she can handle things on her own," the Rattata said. "Besides, we need to get that scope to Saffron before the Rockets come after us."

However, I wasn't feeling right in the stomach. I couldn't leave Tess and never find out what happened to the tower. If she died, it would be all my fault. And I would never stop blaming myself. I knew what I had to do and broke my gaze away from the smoke, facing the Rattata.

"So," he said. "Ready to go?"

I looked down at the scope I held in my paws and actually felt myself smiling for once. I felt my heart beating against my chest happily, letting me know that I was doing the right thing. I looked up at the Rattata again and grabbed a paw. He opened it, looking at me confused as I placed the scope in his paw, in which he closed it automatically.

"I'm sorry I can't go with you," I said. "I wouldn't feel right if I left not knowing if Tess made it out all right. Sure I may be afraid of putting my life on the line in a burning building, but Tess would have done the same thing."

"But the scope," the Rattata said.

"You better hurry if you don't want anyone to take it," I said. "Goodbye. And thanks for your help." With that said, I turned around and began running in the direction of the black smoke, leaving a stunned Rattata behind.

"Quil!" I heard him yell after me, but I already made my decision. I couldn't let anyone die just because of the way I was.

_"Hang on, Tess,"_ I thought. _"I won't let you burn alive."_


	28. To Tess' Rescue

I must have been out of my mind returning to a burning building just to save someone who's helped me out. But then again, I've been helped out a lot since my home had been invaded. People I've known, people I've met, they all have been putting their lives on the line just for me. And to be honest, I was beginning to get sick and tired of always being helped. It was like I was only in the way, like I was the reason everything was happening to everyone. I actually wanted to do something useful for once, even though it might mean losing my life. Would it have been better with me gone? I wasn't sure. But now wasn't the time to think about that. I had a rescue mission to do. Was I scared? No. Terrified? Yes.

Nevertheless, I ran for the tower, keeping an eye on the smoke, making sure it didn't stop. As long as there was black smoke, there was still a chance to rescue Tess. I ran as fast as my legs could take me, my heart racing as I eventually arrived back at the tower.

By the time I did, big, bright red metal boxes were gathered in front of the tower. Humans in yellow were busy trying to put the fire out with water coming from weird rubber hoses. Now that I was on the outside of the tower, I could see the fire more clearly than I could from the outside. The entire tower was like one big tree that caught on fire. Try as hard as the human wanted, the fire seemed to grow more intense with every second.

Watching the fire grow brought back painful memories of my home forest being burned. This tower I stood before was home to many, just as much as the forest was home to me. Tess and Rat, this was their home. And in just one day, it was already being burned down. And by none other than Team Rocket, the group of evil people who were the same ones to burn down my home.

I could feel something bubbling up inside me then, something that wanted to come out, that wanted to break free. I've felt this feeling before, ever since the incident in my forest home. I've always tried wondering what this feeling was, but nothing came to mind.

I snapped my focus back to the burning building before me. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn't exactly sure if I could do it. I've gotten this far, but how much further could I have gone? I mean, I wanted to help, but I was afraid of what would happen to me if I did.

Suddenly, a loud explosion occurred. I looked up to what I think was the third floor to see fire spewing out from a window. It looked like an explosion happened. I looked down to see one of the humans in yellow rushing toward me. I hid behind the wheel of the metal box I stood beside, unsure of what to do. Fortunately the guy never came. I blinked wondering why. Curious as I was, I poked my head around the tire to see the man in yellow talking into some odd black thing attached to some weird wire that went all the way into the metal box.

"Hello!" he practically shouted. "Can you hear me?"

_"Loud and clear,"_ and unknown voice said. It appeared to be coming from the black thing the human was holding. _"What's the situation?"_

"The building is highly unstable," the human said. "It may collapse. I suggest we order an evacuation of the surrounding area."

There was silence from the other end for several seconds before the voice spoke again. _"That would be a negative," _the voice said. _"We have a waterfilled helicopter coming your way in about twenty minutes. Hold on until then."_

"Will do," the human said as another human ran up to him.

"Sir!" he said with a salute. "We just got a report that there are still some people in the building."

"What?!" the first human said. "How many?"

"According to Kirlia, three," the second human said. Three? I knew it. I just knew that there would be someone in the burning tower still. And I knew Tess was one of them. I gripped the wheel hard, struggling with the decision- ah the heck with it. The longer I stayed here, the closer Tess was of burning.

Jumping out from behind the tire, I shot off for the tower, passing by a few metal boxes and humans. Some must have spotted me, for I heard them yell, "Stop that Cyndaquil!" It was already too late for me to stop and look around for who said that. I was already on the move for the tower, barely dodging other humans as they tried catching me.

They eventually gave up chasing me, probably due to me getting in range of the tower. I continued my run, heart racing like crazy as I leapt into the building, landing on the floor inside. Instantly the heat returned, and fear began building up inside me. "Keep calm," I thought to myself. "All I have to do is find Tess and get out of here." "Tess!" I cried out, trying hard not to tear up. "Tess! Where are you?"

I coughed as I looked around. The smoke was getting thick. And it was entering my lungs. I had to find Tess soon before I collapsed. As it were, I could see something up ahead walking toward me. I squinted, trying to make out the form. "Tess?" I called out again as the being got closer.

It was then I saw that it wasn't Tess, but the black pup I met up on the fourth floor. And upon his back was the gray dog that had been knocked unconscious. The black pup hobbled his way out toward the exit, a blank look upon his face. I watched silently as they passed. He didn't even stop once to acknowledge my presence as he walked on out.

That was good. Now I didn't have to worry about going after them, which only left me with searching for Tess. I continued looking around, hoping to find where Tess was before the building collapsed, or this water filled heli-something came and drowned out the building. "Tess!" I cried out again over the roaring flames.

I strained to listen for anything. A cough, a weak cry for help. Anything. I could feel sweat starting to drip down me. Whether it was from the fire or due to me being scared I wasn't sure. Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a shift of things, followed by a moan. I looked over to my right and further nearer the wall was a piece of the ceiling. And underneath it was none other than Tess.

"Tess!" I cried out, rushing over to her, the heat sapping my strength. "Tess! Please be O.K. Don't die, Tess. Please don't die!"

"Quil?" I heard her ask weakly as she gave out a weak cough. "What are you doing here? Take the Silph Scope to Saffron."

"It's O.K.," I said. "Rat's taking care of that. I've got to get you out of here."

"Don't be stupid," she mumbled. "Leave me."

"I'm not leaving you Tess," I said, grabbing a hold of the ceiling that fell on her and was burning her alive. Bad idea. My paws burned slightly at its touch, causing me to scream out in pain and let go. I tucked my paws into my body, trying to rid the pain, but I knew now that the pain was going to be there. So I just had to go for it for Tess's sake.

Screaming, I grabbed a hold of the piece of ceiling again and began lifting it enough for Tess to get free. My paws were burning badly. I wanted nothing more than to let go, but I had to be sure Tess got out first. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain. I had hoped Tess knew what I was trying to do, and it seemed to have gotten to her, for she levitated a little off the ground.

However, as she was moving out from under the ceiling, I managed to look up and, through tearfilled eyes, watch as something large came falling down right at the spot I stood at. I couldn't do anything being that I was holding something at the moment. Just as it came crashing down on me, a green dome suddenly formed over Tess and I. The object crashed down upon the dome and bounced off, landing some feet away from us.

"Heard you, um, rushed in here," a familiar voice said. "So I, um, came to make sure you didn't get, um, hurt or anything."

I turned my head toward the speaker of the voice to see a familiar yellow-ringed creature standing behind me. "Um!" I said in happiness.

"Got to, um, admit," Um said, grinning. "I would have never expected you to be the one to do, um, something so daring such as, um, this."

"Yeah," I said, finally letting go as Tess fell to the ground again. Um dropped his green dome and walked over to Tess, picking her up in his teeth.

"We might want to consider, um, getting out of here," he said. "Unless you feel like being buried alive when this place comes down."

"No thanks," I said, leaning aganist Um for support as we both walked out of the burning building and into the awaiting arms of the humans.


	29. Recovery

**I had originally planned for Quil rescuing Tess to be a two parter. Last chapter would have had Quil looking up at that piece of ceiling as it came falling down upon him and Tess while this chapter would have gotten Quil out from the tower with Um's help. But I've been dragging on forever with Quil being in Violet City, so I combined the two into one to get things sped along a bit.**

**So, this chapter focuses on Quil's recovery, leaving the next chapter the final chapter of Quil being in Violet City before he gets a move on with his mission. I have a bit of a plot thought up for the next arc, but I'm still working it out. But I'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, read up on this chapter and review please!**

* * *

I hadn't known how long it has been after I blacked out from leaving the burning building. I barely rememebred much of what happened anyway after that. What I could remember was panicking at the sight of humans coming to grab me. I went to go flee out of fear, but Um told me that they just wanted to help. I struggled with one of the humans as they picked me up.

"Trust me," Um had said. "I promise they won't hurt you." I was too scared to even attempt to calm down. I freaked out even more when I felt something prick through my skin. It was sharp and it hurt. I began crying, wishing for all of this to go away. Then, I blacked out, whether it was due to the sharp thing or I just freaked out so much that I passed out, I couldn't tell.

The next time I had woken up, I was lying on something quite comfortable, I was in some sort of inside room, and Um was looking directly at me with his paws on the bed. His head was resting on his paws, his ears drooping on each side of his face. He looked kind of funny like that.

I sat up and went to remove the blanket and froze as I stared at my paws. They were wrapped up with white cloths of some kind or something. Why were they wrapped up? I began to unwrap one with one of my wrapped up paws when Um suddenly spoke up.

"I wouldn't do that if, um, I were you."

I stopped, startled, as I looked over to him. He was still in the same position while sleeping, though now his eyes were open and he was looking over at me. "What?" I asked, confused.

"I said that, um, you wouldn't want to do that," Um said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Your, um, paws have been, um, scorched," Um said. "They're, um, kind of bubbling right now, um, so to speak. Kind of like, um, blisters."

I slowly moved my paw away from the paw I was unwrapping, not really wanting to see what my paws would look like. Memories of what happened sometime ago played out in my head, like a really bad nightmare I thought I would never get out of. I remembered rushing into the burning tower just so I could save Tess from being burned alive. I had lifted something that was burning hot and remembered how bad my paws were being burned, yet I hadn't let go, at least not util I made sure Tess was safe. Tess! It was then I remembered what happened after I got out.

"Tess!" I said worriedly, beginning to get up, only to be gently held firm by Um. "Let me go! I need to see if Tess is all right."

"Tess is, um, fine," Um said. "She's, um, resting and you should, um, be too."

"Tess is going to be all right?" I asked hopefully. "She survived the fire?"

"She, um, did," Um said. "Though she did, um, receive some major fire burns, she'll, um, be up and at 'em in, um, no time."

"That's a relief," I said, relieved to hear Tess was doing all right.

"You sure are the, um, sleeper," Um said. "Sleeping for three whole days like, um, that!"

I snapped my head up at Um, eyes wide with shock. "I slept for three whole days?" I asked, surprised on hearing this news.

"Oh yeah," Um said. "Guess I forgot to, um, mention that." As if on cue, my stomach began growling really badly. My entire body fell back against the pillow, my muscles shutting down.

"So hungry," I said weakly.

"Don't, um, worry," Um said as he began walking towards the door. "I'll be back with some, um, food in a, um, minute. In the, um, meantime, you, um, have a visitor you, um, may like to, um, speak, um, to."

Um then walked out the door, leaving it open for my visitor to walk in. My eyes lit up and my mouth hung open slightly as a familiar purple rat caring a scope poked his head in and walked right on in. "Rat!" I said surprised. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be half way to return that scope thing by now."

"Yeah. You'd think that, wouldn't you?" he asked, setting the scope down. "I was quite astonished when you handed me the scope and left to save Tess. I didn't think you'd actually do it, but you amazed me Quil."

"Yeah," I said. "I surprised myself doing that. But what are you doing here Rat? Shouldn't you be on your way to take that scope back to where it's supposed to go?"

"Well, yeah, I'm supposed to," Rat said. "I mean, I know how to get to Goldenrod since I've picked up a map and memorized it, but I'm just a lone Rattata. The Rockets probably know where we're heading and if I had shown up there alone, I'm pretty sure I'd lose the scope what with how weak I am."

"I don't think you're weak," I said, prompting a small chuckle out from Rat.

"That's because you're not a Rattata," Rat said. "There are only a few pokemon out there in the world who barely have enough strength to take down stronger pokemon alone, and I'm one of them."

"Oh," was all I could say. I wish there was a way I could help Rat out, but there wasn't anyway I could since I was afraid of even my own fire. Wow! I'm afraid of a lot of things. I wish I wasn't. Sometimes, I wish I just had the strength I needed to fight back so that I wouldn't need to rely on anybody. I could have been halfway to returning the scope by now where it belonged if I wasn't this weak myself. Hmm. Perhaps Rat and I could help each other along the way. There was an idea now.

"You know," I said. "Perhaps we could help one another on the way. We both need a lot of strengthening, so what do you say?"

Rat looked up at me, the thought of my suggestion running through his mind. After about a minute, he smiled slightly. "That sounds like a perfect idea," he said. "To think, I'll be the first Rattata out of many to be able to beat any pokemon that comes my way! I'll be known throughout the world!"

I smiled, happy I could cheer Rat up. I just hoped I could overcome my fears and be as strong as Rat said he was going to be. Um came walking back in at that moment with a familiar pink nurse right behind him.

"Didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon," Nurse Chansey said. "Guess you just can't seem to stay away from me now, can you?" I had no idea what she meant by that. Um only coughed slightly while Rat looked confused at her.

"Yes, um, well, here's some, um, food for you, Quil," Um said as he grabbed a flat thing with all this delicious food on it with his teeth and set it down before me. I immediately began to dig in, biting into everything and filling myself up quickly. By the time I was done, I felt really tired.

"I'm feeling sleepy again," I said.

"All natural, Quil," Nurse Chansey said. "A big meal does that. So go get some rest."

"But Rat and I need to go," I said. "We have a mission to do."

"It can always wait," I heard Rat say as I laid my head down on the pillow. "We can leave tomorrow, right?"

"Well, seeing as how Quil didn't have that much damage to him this time around other than his paws, yes, the two of you may leave tomorrow morning," Nurse Chansey said.

"Great," I said with a small smile. "I'll see you all then." Like that, I was out like a light.


	30. Heading Out

**I'll admit that I had the last three of these chapters done before April even ended. I just decided not to update them all at once since reading them wouldn't take that very long and you all would be anxiously waiting for the next update. So this way, you can all now enjoy the chapter which wraps up Quil's time in Violet City.**

The very next day came just like that. I had woken up to find food to the side upon one of those tables I was told about. Rat was at the other end of the bed, holding on tight to the scope. I smiled, not because of how he was sleeping, but because of him coming back. I have never met any pokemon who would have ever thought about coming back, even if it was for other reasons. I was glad Rat was back. At least now I had someone I could possibly travel with. A good friend I hope I could rely on.

Rat woke up sometime while I was eating and was happy to see that I was doing better, though the cloths wrapped around my paws were pretty bothersome. Nurse Chansey walked in a little bit after I had finished eating and when I asked about the cloths coming off, she told me to wait two weeks, or fourteen days in other words. But the good thing about today was that I could get out of bed and head out to return the scope to the city it was to be returned to.

But first, there was one other person I needed to see before taking my leave. "May I go and see Tess?" I asked Nurse Chansey.

"Well," she said. "Tess is currently recovering right at the moment, but since you're planning on leaving, I'll let you have a few minutes with her."

"Thank you," I said as I was led down to Tess's room by the Ekans, Nurse Ark. Entering the room, I immediately saw Tess lying upon a bed. I walked over to her and hopped up on a nearby chair. She looked pretty b ad what with burn marks upon her body. It made me feel a little fearful that she received more burns than I had. I hoped that she wouldn't die.

"Tess?" I said softly. "Tess?"

I heard her take in a deep breath and I sighed with relief. She was going to be all right. "Quil?" she asked, blinking, opening her eyes. "That you?"

"It's me," I said.

"Thank goodness you're all right," Tess said. "I've been hearing talk going around that you came and saved me from that burning tower."

"I did," I said. "You don't remember me trying to get you out?"

"Barely," Tess said. "I inhaled a little too much smoke. I was out of it. Course, I thought all that was a dream. By the way, is the Silph Scope safe?"

"It is," I said. "Rat and I are leaving out today to take it back to, um, to..."

"Saffron City," Tess said for me.

"Yeah," I said. "Saffron. I just wanted to make sure you were all right before I left."

"Well I'm glad you did," Tess said with a smile. Her eyes lowered a bit. "You burned your paws, you poor dear."

"D-Don't worry about it," I said. "Nurse Chansey said they'll heal within fourteen days. I just need to stay off them until then."

"Well you should listen to her then, Quil," Tess said. "Doctors know what's best, most of the time." That got a small chuckle out from me. "But anyway Quil, looks like I owe you for saving my life."

I recalled back to our earlier conversation moments before the Rockets showed up three days ago. There was something that Tess had said to me then. "Didn't you say something like don't go around owing everybody everything due to the owing getting one to do things that they wouldn't like doing or something?"

"Hmm," Tess said, thinking back as well. "You know, I do recall saying something like that. You're right Quil. I guess with you taking the scope to Saffron, this makes us even."

"Yeah," I said. "Guess it does."

Tess yawned then, Nurse Ark sticking her head in. "You'll have to forgive me," Tess said. "I'm very tired. I'm going to need a lot of rest."

"And it'sss about high time you vacate the room, Cyndaquil," Nurse Ark said.

"Nurse Ark!" I heard Nurse Chansey yell. "Behave yourself!"

"All right," I said. "I'm coming. Tess, I hope you recover well. It was so nice to meet you."

"You too, Quil," Tess said. "Never forget what I taught you about owng others."

"I won't," I said. Tess's breathing began to slow to a steady rhythm, her eyes shutting once more.

"If you ever come back this way again, I hope that the tower is restored before long," she said. "I'll need all the strength to help rebuild it. Good luck on your journey, Quil. I hope you grow up to... become..." She had fallen asleep before she could finish her sentence. I smiled and hopped down from the bed, walking out of the room.

"Bye Tess," I whispered under my breath as I vacated the room.

* * *

Minutes later, I found myself outside standing next to Rat who still had a good grip on that scope. The two of us were outside the hospital standing before the nurses, or maybe it was them standing in front of us. If you had someone standing in front of you while you were standing in front of them, then who was standing in front of whom? Great. My brain is hurting again.

"Well things sure have gotten, um, interesting since your, um, arrival here, um, Quil," Um said. "I don't know about, um, anybody else, but, um, I had fun."

"Yeah," said the electric type who tripped and sent the bed I was on rolling the other day. "You did cause a bit of pandemonium, but it all turned out for the best."

"Sssspeak for yourself," Nurse Ark said.

"NURSE ARK!" Nurse Chansey screamed, whacking him hard, his head plopping down into the ground. I couldn't help but laugh. It was funny to his head flop like that. Everyone else laughed as well after I started laughing. All except Nurse Ark himself who just gave off a simple "Hmph." We must have laughed like that for a good while before we all actually simmered down.

"Do it again!" Rat said smiling mischeivously.

"Don't you two have somewhere you need to be?" asked the grey furred pup as he wiped a tear from his eyes.

"Nurse Snuff is, um, right," Um said. "That, um, scope needs to get to, um, um, um....."

"Saffron," the electric type said.

"Right," Um said. "Saffron."

"How far is it of a walk from here to Saffron anyway?" I asked.

"It would probably take you a month or two on foot," Nurse Chansey said. "Luckily they have a train in Golden Rod that can get you there in an hour. Remember you two. Take the train and not on foot. Tess is entrusting your lives with that scope. No telling what might happen if that scope were to go missing in between here to Golden Rod."

"Or SSSSSaffron for that matter," Nurse Ark said.

"Right," Nure Chansey. "Or Saffron."

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Nurse Chansey," Rat said, wrapping a paw around me and pulling me in. "Quil and I will keep a careful watch on the scope. We'll guard it like we were guarding our own lives!"

"Do you have to put it like that?" I asked.

"Well you two should get going," Nurse Snuff said. "Wouldn't want to waste another day now, would you?"

"Not at all," I said, shoving Rat off of me. "You ready to go?"

"Don't have a home to go back to," Rat said. "So the best thing I can do is help you out returning this scope to Saffron. I'm up for it."

"Great," I said with a smile. Wow! My first friend outside the forest. This was really exciting! Off on my own on my own adventures with a new friend. Wonder what dangers would come our way. Rat and I finally turned and began walking off, finally leaving the city.

"Good, um, luck out there," Um said. "And, um, don't forget to, um, call Tess when you, um, get there."

"Don't worry," I said, turning back slightly to wave one of my bandanged paws. "We will."

"We're counting on you Quil!" Nurse Chansey said. "Rat, hold on tightly to that scope."

"Tight as I can," Rat said. After our farewells and the nurses were all out of sight Rat asked, "Do you even know how to operate a phone?"

"What's a phone?" I asked, getting a chuckle from Rat.

"You have a lot to learn," he said as we walked towards the city exit.


	31. Choosing A Path: The Journey Down

Rat and I walked through the city, bypassing all the large buildings and eventually leaving the city behind as trees began to come into view. This kind of reminded me of the time I left Cherry Grove City and the events that occurred after my departure. And of course, the forest also reminded me of the situations I ended up in the last two times. But now, everything was different. I had someone with me going to this Saffron city to return the scope we had in our possession. I knew that it was going to be quite a number of days to walk, but hopefully this time, we wouldn't be sidetracked by anything.

"Wow!" said Rat, looking around, his eyes wide with wonder and excitement. "I never knew we had a forest outside of the city."

"You mean you've never been outside the tower until now?" I asked.

"Of course I have," Rat said. "I've just never been near the border before, let alone go beyond it. I've mostly just stuck close to the tower. This is my first time actually leaving the city and heading to another."

"How does it feel?" I asked.

"It feels... kind of wierd," Rat said, pasuing momentarily to find a good enough word to say. "Yet at the same time exciting. Who knows what kind of adventures we'll come across along the way to Goldenrod." I could imagine. With everything I've been through, I was surprised that I wasn't dead yet. I didn't want to think what would happen if I didn't have others there to help me.

And now that I thought about it, I began finding it kind of weird that my meeting with the people, er pokemon I came across, I seemed to come out of it a little stronger and a little braver as well. I mean weeks ago I wouldn't have had the brains to do what I had done with the scope, even if it meant risking my own life. And I certainly wouldn't have had the courage to rush back inside a burning building to save a friend. I can't believe the kind of Cyndaquil I've become. Mom and dad would have been so proud of me.

I was suddenly brought out of my thoughts as I waled straight into Rat, tripping over him the both of us falling over. "ACK!" he yelled as he fell. "Quil, watch where you're going."

"Sorry," I said apologetically. "Just daydreaming about something. So why'd we stop?"

"Because of this," Rat replied, gesturing to the path before us. Looking straight ahead, the path continued on, possibly heading to Golden Rod while a second path veered off downward, away from the path we were taking.

"I don't see a problem," I said. "We're going straight on to Golden Rod, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Rat replied. "We're supposed to be. But there's something I've been thinking about lately."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well," Rat began. "Team Rocket obviously knows we have the Silph Scope now, am I not right?"

"I guess you are," I replied, thinking about it. Now that Rat had mentioned it, I remember Tess mentioning about Team Rocket coming up for the scope. They had pokemon come to grab it for them, only for the building they were in to end up burning. So if the pokemon hadn't grabbed the scope, then of course they would know that we had it. "Now that you mention it, yeah, you're right. But what are we going to do about it? We have to return the scope to Saffron."

"Yeah," Rat said. "I know. But if the Rockets are waiting for us, then there's no doubt in my mind that the moment we set foot in Golden Rod, they'll ambush us and easily take the scope. They expect us to travel the way we're going now and come in through the back way of Golden Rod. That's where they're waiting for us."

"I get it!" I said, getting at where Rat was leading this to. "If we take the path going down, we can round about and enter through the front way. They'd never see us coming. They'll still be waiting for us to come in through the back way of Golden Rod."

"Exactly," Rat said. "But even then we're going to need to be careful. You can never tell where Team Rocket is. The most innocent face can turn out to be your deadliest foe."

I gulped at this a little. If Rat said what was true, I'd have to be careful with the pokemon I meet. So far I've come across all good pokemon that were non-Team Rocket, except for one who caused a lot of trouble. But I'm glad I would never have to see him again.

"Hey Quil," Rat called out, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You coming or just going to stand around there all day?"

"Whoops!" I said, quickly catching up to Rat as we took the downward path to round about Golden Rod.

* * *

"Whoa!" I marveled, looking up and around at the high rocky formations that Rat and I walked below. Weeks ago I would have never known about these strange rocky formations. But here I was now, far from home and in a completely new area I've never been in before. I was actually getting to see the world, something that my parents would never want me to do. In fact, if the Rockets hadn't invaded my home and set fire to it, I'd probably spend the rest of my life there, doing absolutely nothing.

"I think I've heard about these," Rat said, also marveling. "I think these formations are called mountains or something."

"Mountains?" I said, still amazed. "They look really cool!"

"Yeah they do," Rat said. "Imagine being that high up and looking over the world. I'm sure you'd be able to see everything from that height."

"You think we might be able to see Golden Rod?" I asked.

"Maybe not Golden Rod," Rat said. "But most likely Azela Town, our next little stop before Golden Rod."

"There's another city before Golden Rod?" I asked.

"It's not a city," Rat said. "It's a town, or so I've seen on the maps."

"Have you ever heard what it's like?" I asked.

"Man you're just full of questions," Rat said, rubbing his head.

"Well aren't you curious about Azela?" I asked again.

"Yeah I am," Rat replied. "But not even I don't ask that many questions."

"Sorry," I said.

"No need to apologize," Rat said. "I have to remember you're the curious type of pokemon, I think. But anyway, I think I recall someone saying once that Azela Town is famous for Slowpokes. I don't really know though."

"O.K.," I said, falling silent as Rat and I continued walking. I wondered what a Slow would look like. And I only called them Slow because it was easier for me to remember, like when I met the Quags and decided to call them that to make their names easier on me. Speaking of the Quags, I wondered how they were doing. There were times that I did happen to miss them. Well, all except Gus, that is. He's a jerk.

Look Quil!" Rat suddenly exclaimed, once again snapping me back to reality. I really need to stop retreating into my thoughts. "Water!" I followed over to where Rat was pointing to see a fairly sized nice lake nearby, much like the lake back home, only this one was a little bit bigger than mine from the looks of it.

Rat and I ran over to the lake and we both began taking swallows from it, Rat throwing a coughing fit by swallowing down the wrong pipe. "Easy," I said with a pat on his back. As soon as Rat finished coughing, he went right back to taking a few more swigs from the lake. I went to join him, but stopped suddenly as something caught my eye. Looking up, I saw a rather large leaf drifting about in the water, slowly moving towards us as the wind blew gently.

"Hey Rat," I said, receiving a small grunt from him. "You see that leaf over there in the water drifting towards us?" Rat raised his head and stared at the leaf I was referring to.

"What about it?" he asked.

"Well, have you ever seen a leaf that big before?" I asked. Rat remained silent as he continued staring at the leaf, his muzzle having drops of water drip off of it.

"You know," he said. "Come to think of it, no, I haven't. But I'm sure the world is just full of mysteries that are yet to be solved."

"I guess," I said as we both continued watching the leaf, drifting closer towards us. Something within me told me that something was about to happen, something that invovled the leaf. I wasn't sure what though. "I have a weird feeling about that leaf. Maybe we should go."

Rat remained silent, staring at the leaf still. I saw his ears twitch suddenly, then he turned to me slightly. "Yeah," he said. "Maybe we should. Something's not right here." I nodded at him, indicating we were leaving. As Rat turned to pick up the scope, I turned to leave the lake. Unfortunately, the next thing I knew, I fell and landed right on my face. And the weird thing about was, I never took a single step.

I could feel something odd on my ankle and, pushing myself up and turning my body, I looked down at my foot. Two long, green vines were sprouting from it and going into the nearby grass. "Quil! Help!" Rat suddenly yelled. Looking over where Rat was, he was now suspended in mid-air, tied by multiple vines as well. This was just great. Everywhere I went I just seemed to run into problem after problem. Would this ever end?

Back to my dire situation, I watched as what the vines were attatched to began rustling through the grass, coming closer. Finally, what seemed like forever, out came what looked like four legged, green furred pokemon with really big leaves on their heads, much like the leaf Rat and I saw in the water, which of course grabbed my attention as the leaf rose up out of the water and another of the green furred pokemon appeared.

"Well, well, well," the pokemon said in a feminine voice. "What do we have here? A couple of mountain pokemon down for a drink of water in OUR territory, eh?"

"Um... what?" I asked meekly, not understanding what was going on. We weren't mountain pokemon, an obvious mistake others make from time to time I suppose. This was just a whole misunderstanding. "We're not mountain pokemon."

"Sure you aren't," the leaf pokemon said with a roll of her eyes. "And I'm not a Chikorita." So that's what these pokemon were. A Chika-something. I'm not real good with the end name of many pokemon. Just those I knew back in my forest.

"No really," I said. "We're not mountain pokemon. We just came down from the city and-"

"Enough chitchat," the Chika said, grabbing hold of the scope that was by her feet. "You can tell it to the clan leader when we get back." This was just what I needed. A new problem to get in the way of a mission we were on. If the Chika acted the way she did without giving me a chance to explain, I wondered how the clan leader would act.

"Guess I'll find out when I get there," I thought to myself as the Chikas began marching us back to their base.


	32. Quil's Deal

Darkness. Ever lasting darkness was all I could see upon regaining consciousness. I know not what happened. I felt like I was awake, but I couldn't be quite sure that I was. One thing I thought I felt different was that I was not standing, but floating. So was I dead? No. I couldn't be. If I were dead, it wouldn't be so dark like this, would it? I could feel my brain trying to think and placed a paw over my chest. I could hear the thumping of my heart, beating a little fast, worried that I might be what I thought I was. But if my heart was beating, then that would mean that I was alive, right? Or did your heart go with you wherever you went in the end?

Suddenly, a chilled wind swept past, chilling me right down to the bone. I shivered, curling myself up into a tiny ball. The wind continued to sweep past me, chilling, almost freezing. But as quickly as it started, it quickly began settling down until it was barely even a breeze. I uncurled myself slightly, taking a quick look around. For some strange reason, I felt as though there was someone else in here with me, hiding somewhere in the darkness. The feeling was quite uncomfortable for me and my heart began beating faster.

"He-Hello?" I called out, curling up quickly as my voice echoed across the vast emptiness of the darkness. I kept still, waiting to see if whatever was nearby would come out and attack me. What seemed like minutes passed by as nothing seemed to happen. I was quite fearful of making an attempt to uncurl, for if I did just that, the thing hiding would take it's leap at me. I'd be dead before he even did anything to me, due to my weak heart.

I curled even tighter as the chilling wind suddenly began to pick up again, whistling and whipping slightly all around me. At first, nothing was heard but the whistling, chilling wind. Then, from within the wind, sounded what could only be described as a small chuckle. It started small, but then began to grow little by little. But this wasn't a happy chuckle. This chuckle sounded a little happy, yet at the same time had a strange tone to it, like it was enjoying what was going on.

"Hello?" I called out again. "Wh-who's there?" The chuckling began growing into a laughter. A pleasurable laughter, like it was mocking me, but there was something within that laughter that didn't sound right, something that chilled me more than the wind itself.

But suddenly, the wind immediately died down, the laughter dying with it. I stayed curled up for what seemed to be like hours, only uncurling once nothing seemed to have happened. My heart was pounding hard against my chest as I slowly sat up. That was one of the most scariest experiences I have had in my entire life. I hoped that it would never happen again.

However, just as I thought those words, my entire body tensed up again as I heard a soft whisper flaot across the darkness. "Quil," it whispered. "Quil. Quil."

* * *

"Quil," I heard someone shout my name. "Quil. Hey Quil. Wake up! I'm freaking out here man. Wake up!"

"Huh?" I said, confused, snapping my eyes open. I moved my head around, searching for the person who called out my name.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake," Rat said as I looked over to my left. "I was beginning to think you would never wake up."

"What's going on?" I asked, yawning.

"Uh," Rat said, pausing for a moment. "You want to take a look at our current position?"

I blinked a few times, staring at Rat until it was then I noticed that he was dangling above the ground. Come to think of it, I seemed to be hovering above the ground myself now that I was taking notice of my surroundings. Strange. It feels like I've been in this same situation not mere moments ago. Why couldn't I remember it? And why did my muscles ache so badly?

Taking a look at my paws, I saw what looked to be green vines wrapped around them. I followed one of the vines down to where the source of them sprouting up was from, only to see a small, green, four legged pokemon below me with a rather giant leaf upon its head. Come to think of it, there seemed to be a quite a few of them, surrounding both Rat and I. Then, like that, everything came rushing back to me. How Rat and I stopped at a pond to take a sip to drink after leaving a city and being captured by a bunch of these leaf heads whom were called the Chikas.

"So you finally awaken at last," one of the Chikas said, stepping out from among the other Chikas and heading towards us. I could only assume this Chika was the leader, much like Gus was the leader of the Quags. The reason being that she was slightly bigger than the other Chikas and her legs looked like she had been working out, as well as her body. And I mean she because of her feminine curves. And she looked like she could easily snap me like a twig with just one paw.

"Um, hello," Rat said nervously. I watched as the Chika's eyes glanced over to him, her eyes taking on a kind of yellow glow as she glared a little at him. I looked over to Rat as he went limp a little, looking a little on the tired side. "I'm feeling quite relaxed right now." He lolled his head over to one side, looking like he was out of it.

"Pay attention," the Chika said, bringing my attention back to her. "Now you mind telling me exactly where he is before someone starts getting hurt?"

"Where who is?" I asked meekly. The Chika growled, her eyes narrowing.

"Playing dumb isn't going to help you," she said. "The only reason we knocked you out with our sleeping powder so that none of your little mountain friend pokemon would know our location. So no one's coming to save you. So I ask again, where is he?"

"I don't know who 'he' is," I answered the Chika, putting some emphasis on 'he.'

"You're really starting to test my patience," the Chika growled. "And patience is the one thing I don't have. So you better start talking before my patience runs thin on you."

"But I don't know what you're talking about," I said, getting a sigh from the Chika. The next thing I knew, she lashed out a vine at me, slapping me with it. The slap stung badly and I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes, wanting to cry.

"I really don't like playing games," the Chika yelled. "Now tell me where he is before the pain continues."

"I-I-I," I tried saying, but couldn't get anything out but tears. My cheek stung really bad. All I wanted to do was rub the pain away and try to talk things over with the Chika, but that didn't seem like it was going to be that way. All that seemed to be happening were the tears rolling freely off my face.

"Aww!" I heard the Chika say. "I didn't know mountain pokemon could cry. And I thought they were all toughies." She and all the other Chikas began laughing. And their laughter was directed at me. Why did pokemon have to be this cruel? If the world was like this, then no one had a chance to do anything. Why did they have to make a mockery out of me? It hurt. And the hurt was turning into the familiar bubbling feeling I felt since leaving the safety and comfort of my home.

"We were just passing through," Rat suddenly said, the laughing ceasing instantly. "We don't know who you mean?"

"Keep your mouth shut," the Chika leader yelled, slapping Rat with a vine. "We have no interest in you. So if you don't keep quiet, I'll make sure you do."

"Leave him alone," I said through a trembling voice, all eyes turning back on me. "We hadn't done anything and you accuse us of something we don't know about."

"That's enough out of you!" the Chika leader yelled. Though my eyes were blurry with the tears, I could see the Chika leader reeling back her vine to do some more damage to me. Just as she sent it forward to strike, however, an idea quickly popped into my head.

"I do know where he is, however," I quickly said, the vine stopping an inch from my face.

"What was that?" the Chika leader asked.

"I said I know where he is," I repeated. "I think I remember seeing him."

"Only because you sent your mountain friends down to take him," the Chika leader yelled. "I can't trust anything you mountain pokemon say. All you care about is yourselves. You just take what you please and don't care who gets hurt." At this point, I could see a single tear rolling down the Chika leader's face. I had my suspicions on why she was crying.

"How about I make a deal with you then?" I asked. "I know you won't trust me, but it's all you've got to lose at this point." The Chika leader remained silent aside from a hurtful sigh escaping her breath. "You let me go and I'll go find him for you. Give me one week and I'll be back with him."

"Liar," the Chika leader yelled. "Once we let you go, you're just going to abandon your friend and never return."

"I promise you," I said. "Just give me a week and I'll return with him. If I'm not back by then, you can do whatever you want to my friend and use the scope to however you choose." I looked over at Rat who lolled his head over in my direction. I'm pretty sure if he wasn't so relaxed right now, he'd be giving me a glare saying, 'Thanks a lot, friend.' All I could mutter out to him was a simple, "Sorry."

"That's a pretty risky deal you're making there," the Chika leader said, regaining her earlier attitude. "You're willing to go find him and leave your friend to be tortured for the remainder of his life until death?"

"No," I replied. "I'm willing to go find him so I can help my friend. And to help you too as well."

"Help us?" the Chika leader asked, becoming suspicious of me once again. "How exactly can you help us?"

"If you let me go to find him, I'll tell you how I can help you," I said, desperately trying to get her to let me do what I needed to do. She stared at me for quite some time, thinking over on what she should do. Finally, after a long period of silence, she spoke again.

"Fine then," she said. "If you really mean to help find him, then a week it is I'll give you. Release him." I felt myself being lowered until my feet hit the ground. The vines holding me were unwrapped, allowing me to stretch my aching muscles. I looked up at Rat whose head was now hanging over his body, staring down at me. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Think you can manage while I'm gone?"

"Just as long as they don't scratch the Silph Scope," Rat said. "Now go."

"Right," I said, turning my attention to the Chika leader. I gave a simple nod to her, letting her know I was leaving now. She gave a slight nod back at me in return before releasing a cloud of purple dust at me. I instantly felt my eyes drooping quickly. Before I knew it, my vision blurred and I had blacked out once again, entering the void of darkness.


	33. Zearth

The area I woke up in when I did come to was entirely different. One thing I noticed right away that all the Chikas were gone. Along with Rat and the scope. In fact, I wasn't even in the area where they were. Instead, now that I was taking a look around, I noticed that I was sitting in front of a rather large rocky wall of some sort that seemed to go up forever. "Wow!" I said. "How far up does that go?"

"It's called a mountain," someone said from behind me, startling me enough to make me jump and turn around in mid-spin. My heart pounded slightly, but calmed down when I saw one of the Chikas standing there. "It's about time you've awaken. I was just thinking about pouring some water on you to wake you."

"Oh," was all I said as I stood there looking around a little awakwardly. "So, um, would you mind me asking why you're here?"

"I was given orders to carry you here," the Chika said. "No one may know about the path to where we live. We Chikorita may be small, but our strength is not something you want to take on."

"And I'm not one to do so," I said, rubbing my arm nervously.

"Note taken," the Chika said. "Now, enough stalling, mountain pokemon. Return to your friends and bring him back like you promised. You have one week to return him to us or your rat friend will not have any further luxuury than what he's in already."

"O-O.K.," I said as I turned and looked up the mountain. A pathway laid before me, leading up into the mountain. However, another question popped into my head before I took even a step toward the path. "J-Just another question if it's all right."

"Hmm?" the Chika said, keeping his face serious, much like Bee's.

"Are you just going to stay here for the whole week waiting for me to return?" I asked.

"I can no longer assist you from here," the Chika said. "We do not associate well with pokemon around these parts. But yes, I will wait here for your return so that I may report back to Reah."

"Wouldn't it make more sense just for me to follow you?" I asked.

"Enough talk!" the Chika said. "As said, you have one week for you and your friends to return him. Otherwise, it will not go well for your Rattata friend."

"A-All right," I said as I turned and looked once more up the mountain before starting my walk up it.

* * *

Sometime later during my climb up the mountain, I had to stop and rest being that the walk itself was quite exhausting, especially when walking up something as big as this said mountain. Luckily there were quite a lot of rocks I could sit upon and take a while break, but not too terribly long. My throat was quite parched. I wondered if they ever had any water on this mountain. I'm sure there was somewhere where I could go and get a few gulps in to wet my throat. As I sat on a rock to regain some strength to walk, I shut my eyes just to get a few minutes of sleep in to also gain some energy as well. As I was doing so, my thoughts, once again, drifted to everything that's been happening since my home had been burned down. Why was everything happening to me? How many bad things can happen to one person? I missed my home quite terribly as much as I did my family. I wondered where they are, if they're all right, if they were looking for me. It was all those stupid Rockets' fault for forcing me out from my home. They were the reason why I was out here risking my life for the Chikas, for the scope, and even endangering Rat. I felt a weird, yet familiar feeling inside me, one I haven't felt in a while, though I feel like I've felt it in a dream of some sort or rather.

I snapped open my eyes, my paws stinging as I have forgotten that I had bandages wrapped around them. I blinked several times, losing train on the thoughts I was recently thinking. Why was I feeling that way towards those Rockets? What did these feelings mean? I didn't know exactly what this meant, but I suppose it was nothing to worry about. I'm sure others felt however I was feeling all the time.

I looked up into the sky to see a whole lot of clouds and barely any sun. I supposed that there were many different areas that had different weathers going on, yet the weather always changed. So it was hard to keep up with when it would rain or shine. Back to the matter on hand, I hopped off the rock I sat upon, figuring that I've spent enough time resting. I was just starting to continue my walk up the mountain to return what the Chickas sent me for when the place I sat momentarily was suddenly destroyed. Startled, I jumped and turned about in fright to see what it was that just destroyed the rock. Was life out to get me? Standing out in the open was not a good place to be if someone was out to get you. Unfortunately, I had no place to hide myself. So all I could do was stand there, trembling in fear of what might come out of the debris.

As the debris cleared, I could see the outline of a pokemon lifting itself out from the ground. I couldn't see really well until the debris cleared out a little more. The pokemon looked like he was a floating head apparently with two arms. As for the rest of its body... it had none? Exactly what pokemon was this? "That was fun!" the pokemon said, laughing. "Though the crash landing is kind of a killjoy." I stood there, the fear quickly diminishing and being replaced with a look of confusion. Who exactly was this pokemon and what was it that he just did? The pokemon turned around and looked up the mountain, causing me to look in the direction he was looking. "Aparently not far enough," I heard him say. "Perhaps I need to go back a little further and gain a little more speed."

I looked back down at him just as he turned and spotted me. "Well hello there!" he said, bouncing over to me. Each bounce he took left a rather enormous crack in the rock. My eyes went wide with shock as he landed in front of me, the earth shaking beneath my feet, causing me to stumble and fall. "I don't think I recall ever seeing you around these parts! My name's Zearth!"

"Z-Zearth?" I asked as he helped me up.

"Yeah," Zearth said. "Well technically I originally had no name. So I named myself Earth, only I placed a Z in front of earth, thus creating Zearth!"

"That's... kind of a strange name," I stated.

"There are weirder names I'm sure," Zearth said.

"I guess," was all I said.

"So what about you?" Zearth asked. "What's your name little buddy?"

"Quil," I said. "I'm a Cyndaquil."

"A Cyndaquil eh?" Zearth asked. "Never met one of your kind before. I'm a Geodude. Plenty of us around here in these mountain parts."

"Oh," I said. "So what exactly were you doing that brought you crashing down here?"

"Well," Zearth said, seeming a bit shy all of a sudden as he twiddled his fingers. "You'd probably think it's stupid and laugh at me like everyone else."

"What if I don't?" I asked. "It may seem stupid to others, but not everyone's going to think that way of you. You can tell me."

"Well," Zearth said again, a little more quietly than he was a moment ago. "I...I was actually trying to learn to fly." Silence occurred between the two of us after that. Neither of us said a word. Zearth was looking down at the ground, most likely feeling guilty for almost saying that. I was busy imagining what it would look like for a Geo to fly in the air. It looked rather silly with his arms acting for wings. Of course, the way he cracked the ground, he'd probably not last long in the air. But then again, the falling would probably feel like flying. I wasn't too sure. I've never fallen from such a high place before.

"You were trying to fly?" I asked curiously.

"I know it seems silly," Zearth said. "But it's been my dream to be the first rock pokemon to learn how to fly, despite how everyone else ridicules me for being foolish. I've had the dream to fly since I was born."

"Then maybe you can do it," I said. That statement took Zearth by surprise, him looking up at me with shock. "If you believe you can fly, then there shouldn't be any doubt that you can."

"Q-Quil!" Zearth said, stunned by what he was hearing.

"Well, I need to get going," Quil said as he began walking again. "I'm kind of on an important mission right now. I can't waste any more time. It was nice meeting you, Zearth. And I hope you someday can fly." With that said, I left the stunned Geo right where he was, happy that I made someone's day. It'd be interesting to see someone like him fly other than all the bird pokemon that fly around. If he could become the first rock pokemon to fly, then anything could be possible. I smiled to myself as I continued my way up the mountain, exploring every part I could for what I was sent for.


End file.
